Dialectical behavior therapy, an outpatient psychosocial treatment for 
chronically suicidal women with borderline personality disorder, has been 
adapted for use in a partial hospital program for women. Patients attend the 
program for a minimum of five days of individual and group therapy, and full 
census is 12 women. About 65 percent of participants meet at least three 
criteria for borderline personality disorder, and most have suicidal and 
self-injurious behavior. Their comorbid diagnoses include trauma-related 
diagnoses and anxiety disorders, severe eating disorders, substance abuse, and 
depression. The partial hospital program is linked to an aftercare program 
offering six months of outpatient skills training based on dialectical behavior 
therapy. Both programs focus on teaching patients four skills: mindfulness 
(attention to one's experience), interpersonal effectiveness, emotional 
regulation, and distress tolerance. Two years of operation of the women's 
partial hospital program provides promising anecdotal evidence that dialectical 
behavioral therapy, an outpatient approach, can be effectively modified for 
partial hospital settings and a more diverse population.