Participants
Participants were recruited through departments of a mentalhealth-care centre that focused exclusively on PD. We interviewed 29 patients about the effects of AT that they had experienced. Participants were adult patients (27 female and two male) with at least one Axis II PD, cluster B/C diagnosis. The most frequent diagnosis was a ‘personality disorder not otherwise specified’. Other participants were diagnosed with evasive, borderline, dependent, obsessive-compulsive and
narcissistic personality disorders and/or traits. The largest group had a GAF score of 55, meaning moderate symptoms or moderate difficulty in social, occupational or school functioning. The participants received AT as part of a multidisci- plinary treatment programme or were specifically referred for AT by a psychologist or psychiatrist.
An inclusion criterion for this study required that participants had received at least 15 sessions of AT. All respondents received VT in addition to AT. We interviewed 25 participants during or at the end of their treatment process and four some time after receiving AT (varying from one month to six years after AT). We individu- ally interviewed 12
patients; 17 more were interviewed in a focus group.