Personal agency and borderline personality disorder: a longitudinal study of outcomes.

Despite the reductions in BPD symptomology, personal agency did not significantly change over time. Those with lower agency at intake continued to do more poorly at follow up. We speculate that poor outcomes may be contributed to by patients' lack of engagement in recovery due to poor agency and an external locus of control. As such, therapeutic approaches, like DBT, may require additional strategies to appropriately target low personal agency. Further research is needed to understand if other treatment protocols may facilitate positive change in personal agency.