SCIENCE
NEWS
This Week
Providence, R.I. “This hypothesis makes a
number of predictions, such as the formation of an ocean in tropical regions, not high
latitudes, that can be further tested during
present and future exploration of Mars.”
The team proposes that the 2.5-km variation in one of the shorelines arose when the
rotation axis of Mars was pointed 50°
away from its current position. Changes in
the other shoreline, which has height variations of about 0.7 km, occurred somewhat
later, when the axis was tipped by 10°.
That still leaves open the question of why
the rotation axis would move in the first
place. A large shift in mass, like a volcanic
eruption, could cause such a movement.
Perron even suggests that the formation of
an ocean on Mars could itself have triggered polar wander. Some scientists have
proposed that the upwelling of hot material in Earth’s mantle caused our planet to
tip completely on its side some 800 million
years ago. —R. COWEN
Borderline Aid
Psychotherapy soothes
personality ailment
Borderline personality disorder, a psychi-
atric condition marked by volatile relationships and stormy emotions, has the reputation of being tough to treat. A new study,
however, indicates that any of three types of
psychotherapy stimulates substantial
improvement in people with this disorder.
Psychotherapy that centers on emotional
themes arising in the interaction between
patient and therapist, known as transference-focused therapy, stimulates the most
change in people with borderline personality disorder, according to a team led by
psychologist John F. Clarkin of New York
Hospital–Cornell Medical Center in White
Plains, N. Y.
Dialectical behavior therapy, a currently
popular brand of psychotherapy that
teaches patients how to control and alter
their emotional reactions, also produced
good responses, as did supportive psychotherapy that provides basic advice on dealing with daily challenges.
“Contrary to earlier belief in [psychia-try], borderline patients respond to struc-
RED PLANET, BLUE OCEAN Mars as it might have appeared more than 2 billion years ago.
Researchers propose that an ocean then filled a lowland basin occupying the north polar
region, which was tipped significantly from its modern position.
tured treatments of various orientations
with symptom improvement,” Clarkin says.
“We now must explore the mechanisms of
treatment effects.” The new report is in the
June American Journal of Psychiatry.
Borderline personality disorder afflicts
an estimated 1.3 percent of U.S. adults.
Symptoms include intense fear of abandonment, frequent displays of anger, unstable and intense personal relationships,
impulsive acts, feelings of emptiness, suicidal threats or acts, and self-mutilation.
Clarkin’s group randomly assigned each
of 90 outpatients diagnosed with borderline
personality disorder, most of them women,
to one of the three psychotherapies. For
1 year, each participant attended one or two
weekly sessions with a seasoned therapist.
Overall, patients in each group displayed
notable 1-year improvements on measures
of depression, anxiety, social adjustment,
and overall ability to function in daily life.
No one fully recovered from borderline personality disorder, though.
Other measures of success varied across
treatments. For example, only transference-focused and dialectical behavior therapy
yielded declines in suicide threats and
attempts, while only transference-focused
and supportive therapy reduced anger and
impulsiveness.
Moreover, only transference-focused
therapy led to fewer instances of verbal and
physical assaults on others and increased
patients’ ability to reflect on their own motivations and those of others. Clarkin and his
colleagues developed the transference-focused approach, which draws on psychoanalytic concepts (SN: 6/9/07, p. 363).
Psychiatrist Glen O. Gabbard of Baylor
College of Medicine in Houston calls the
work “a landmark study.” Research with
larger groups of patients must confirm that
transference-focused therapy sparks
broader improvement than the other forms
of psychotherapy do, Gabbard says.
Other recent findings question whether
transference-focused therapy is the best
available treatment for borderline personality disorder. An example is a study, published in the June 2006 Archives of General Psychiatry, directed by psychologist
Arnoud Arntz of the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands.
Arntz and his coworkers studied
88 patients randomly assigned to transference-focused therapy or to schema-focused
therapy, which addresses feelings related to
past traumatic experiences as well as the
patient’s current relationship with the therapist.
After 3 years of twice-weekly sessions,
patients in both groups displayed fewer
symptoms of borderline personality disorder and reported quality-of-life improvements. Schema-focused therapy yielded
bigger changes than transference-focused
therapy did, the researchers say. —B. BOWER
PERRON, U.C., BERKELE Y
