Integrated wilderness therapy for avoidant personality disorder

Abstract

Patients with avoidant personality disorder (APD) are difficult to treat because of their extensive social, emotional and cognitive avoidance. Few studies have addressed outcome in APD and there is no therapy of choice. In this quasi-experimental study, we integrated wilderness therapy in an inpatient group program (integrated wilderness therapy, IWT), in order to enhance outcome for patients with APD. We compared outcome of the IWT group with a similar inpatient group program without wilderness therapy: the comparison condition (CC). The subjects in the IWT-group (n=16) with DSM-IV APD were treated in 11.5 weeks. The subjects in the comparison group (n=37) were selected from our database with the same diagnostic criteria. The participants were examined at pre-care, admission, discharge and 1-year follow-up. Both groups were significantly improved, but there were no significant differences between them. There were some non-significant trends for males to gain most benefit from IWT, whereas females were more improved by the CC. The results indicate that by integrating wilderness therapy we were able to treat more impaired patients at shorter time with almost the same outcome.

• Attachment
• Avoidant personality disorder
• Self-efficacy
• Wilderness-therapy