Psychological treatment of Personality Disorders: A multi-centered randomised controlled trial on the (cost-)effectiveness of Schema-Focused Therapy

INTERVENTION: Schema‐Focused Therapy (SFT) versus Treatment as Usual (TAU). CONDITION: Personality Disorder ; Mental and Behavioural Disorders ; Specific personality disorders PRIMARY OUTCOME: Presence versus absence of Personality Disorder(s) (assessed with SCID‐2 and ADP‐IV [intermediate]). SECONDARY OUTCOME: 1. Axis‐1 diagnoses (assessed with the SCID‐1); 2. General psychopathological symptoms (assessed with the SCL‐90); 3. PD‐related schemas and beliefs (assessed with the Young Schema Questionnaire [YSQ] and the PD‐Belief Questionnaire [PDBQ, Arntz et al., 2004]); 4. Social functioning will be assessed with the WSAS; 5. Independent raters will assess global functioning with the GAF Scale (DSM‐IV); 6. Quality of Life will be assessed with the WHOQOL and the EuroQol INCLUSION CRITERIA: 250 outpatients of mental health institutes in the Netherlands with a cluster‐C PD, a narcissistic, histrionic or paranoid PD as defined by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM‐IV) criteria as first diagnosis.