Research projects

Studies of personality functioning, comorbidity and genetics

• Extreme challenges - A national investigation of psychiatric inpatients with severe self-harming behaviour in Norway.
• Selfharming and adolescents - Young peoples’ experiences of self-harm.
• Personality functioning and psychosocial impairment in youth - Quality assurance of the Norwegian versions of the Level of Personality Functioning Questionaire (LoPF-Q 12-18) and The Work and Social Adjustment Scale for Youth (WSAS-Y).
• BioBank project - The Norwegian Network Study of Personality and Genetics  NONSTOP-GEN
• Pain, personality and polygenic risk - Exploring chronic pain among patients with personality disorder.
• Self-harming and suicidal behaviors in personality disorders - Demographic and clinical aspects of suicidal and self-harming behaviors among patients with avoidant and borderline personality disorder.

Personality disorder classification and assessment

• Nor-AMP - The Norwegian Multicentre Study of the DSM-5 Alternative Model for Personality Disorders.
• Nor-AMP-J - The Norwegian Multicentre Study of the DSM-5 Alternative Model for Personality Disorders - Junior
• PersoniCAT - Supporting specialized psychiatric care in remote areas.
• Psychometric evaluations - Studies of reliability and validity of measurements and measurement methods.

Treatment, costs, and habilitation

• The multicentre TREATPD study - Utility of implemented treatment in mental health services for people with personality disorders. The project is a current collaboration within the Norwegian Network for Personality Disorders with a five-year data collection period (2017-2022). It includes separate work packages: TREATING PD and COSTS of PD.
• The TREATPD-SUD study - Expanding knowledge of patients with dual Personality Disorder/Substance-Use Disorder.
• Minding mentalizing - A separate single-centre study within the framework of TREATPD, overall title: “Reflective functioning and psychotherapy processes in Mentalization-based treatment”, and the PhD project: “The Mentalization Breakdown Interview (MBI): a new method for the assessment of mentalizing capacity in research and clinical practice”.
• Treating avoidant personality disorder - Pilot and multicentre studies based on data from the Norwegian Network for Personality Disorders including the TREATPD period.
• Metacognitive interpersonal therapy in group (MIT-G) for patients with avoidant personality disorder. A treatment study.
• Therapist countertransference - PhD project: "Countertransference in the treatment of patients with personality disorders". A multicentre study sample based on data from the Norwegian Network for Personality Disorders.
• The Antisocial Project - A Feasibility Study of Mentalization Based Treatment for Antisocial Personality Disorder in Norway.
• Borderline personality disorder and mentalization-based treatment - Single centre and Multicentre study samples based on data from the Norwegian Network for Personality Disorders including TREATPD.
• The Corona-project - Survey on mental distress, treatment situation, and social consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, first wave among patients with personality disorder. Project title: “Vulnerability of personality disorder during COVID-19 crises: a multicenter survey among patients referred to treatment”

Qualitative studies

• Qualitative research within the research group

Other clinical studies with research group involvement

• A focus on art therapy
• Psychodynamic group therapy and PD
• Co-morbidity studies of borderline and avoidant PD
• The Redefining Psychopathy Project
• We2U - Hybrid format mentalization-based group therapy for youth with emotional dysregulation

Clinical projects in initial planning phase

• Minding ordinary life - Short-term mentalization-based treatment as a booster of occupational habilitation for young adults with personality problems – a randomized controlled trial (more information to come)
• Bridging affect consciousness, mentalization and trauma - Project development is in progress and will involve a ten-year data collection period aiming to provide grounds for both qualitative and quantitative studies in an RCT framework comparing MBT programs with and without an add-on intervention focusing on affect consciousness.