Jenna Traynor, Ph.D.
BBRF Grantee: 2023 – 2024
Harvard Medical School
- Instructor in Psychology, Department of Psychiatry
Dr. Traynor says that we have a poor understanding of which individuals with personality disorders require generalist v. specialist levels of care to experience a reduction in suicidal thinking. She will test whether new diagnostic tools can be used prognostically to predict reductions in suicidal thinking, compared to more traditional ways of measuring personality-disorder symptoms. Data from 100 suicidal patients beginning treatment in a partial hospitalization program will be used to study these associations. If alternative diagnostic tools can provide more precise measurements of symptom severity from mild to extreme impairment, this research may identify thresholds of personality disorder impairment associated with improvements following partial hospitalization, leading to a better understanding of which patients benefit most from short-term partial hospitalization (i.e., generalist treatment), and which require more specialist personality disorder treatments that are typically longer term.
Read Jenna’s blog exploring MDMA as a potential treatment for BPD
