Abstract
BACKGROUND: One of the populations at high risk for self-harm are soldiers. Specifically, this risk is even greater if they have borderline personality disorder. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which mentalization-based training is effective in reducing self-harm behavior, difficulties in emotion regulation, and mentalization in soldiers with borderline personality disorder. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was a quasiexperimental study with a control group and pretest, post-test, and 2-month follow-up periods. This research was conducted in 2023-2024. Fifty soldiers with borderline personality disorder who self-harmed were selected as subjects using the convenience sampling method. One experimental group (25 people) and one control group (25 people) were randomly selected from the subjects. The control group was wait-listed, while the experimental group received six mentalization-based training sessions. Subjects completed questionnaires measuring self-harm (SHI), mentalizing (MZQ), and difficulties in emotion regulation (DERS). The data were analyzed in the descriptive section using mean, frequency, and standard deviation and in the inferential statistics section using repeated measures analysis of variance. RESULTS: The results showed that mentalization-based training significantly improved self-harm behaviors, emotion regulation problems, and mentalization in soldiers with borderline personality disorder and a history of self-harm (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Training based on mentalizing appears to be an effective way to treat emotional issues and self-harming behaviors in soldiers with borderline personality disorder, given the role that mentalizing capacity plays in preventing these behaviors.