Dialectical behavior therapy in the Asia-Pacific Rim region.

BACKGROUND: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) contributes to suicide-related morbidity and mortality and requires more intensive psychotherapeutic resources due to its high mental health service usage. Accessibility to an evidence-based treatment program is a cornerstone to support patients with BPD and part of broader suicide prevention efforts as well as improving their quality of life. AIMS: In this article, the authors aim to discuss and review available dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and DBT-informed services of selected countries in the Asia-Pacific Rim, namely Singapore, Malaysia, and Mexico. MATERIALS & METHODS: We contacted providers of different services and gathered information on the process of setting up the service and adapting the treatment, in addition to reviewing the available literature published in the countries. RESULTS: To date, there have been a pair of DBT-informed services in Singapore, four in Malaysia, and several in Mexico with a few of them offering standard DBT. Different efforts have been put in place to increase the accessibility to training and also the number of DBT practitioners. DISCUSSION: Important considerations during the process of setting up new services include the use of domestic examples and local language that are contextually appropriate for the local community. Selected challenges faced in common include shortage of workforce, affordability of training programs, and the need for language adaptation with or without translation. CONCLUSION: Further long-term evaluation of locally adapted DBT-informed mental health services will help to elucidate the effectiveness and efficacy of the program which will potentially serve as a guide for other resource-scarce regions.

The Behaviour Changes in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic within Malaysia.

The novel coronavirus infection, COVID-19, is a pandemic that currently affects the whole world. During this period, Malaysians displayed a variety of behaviour changes as a response to COVID-19, including panic buying, mass travelling during movement restriction and even absconding from treatment facilities. This article attempts to explore some of these behaviour changes from a behaviourist perspective in order to get a better understanding of the rationale behind the changes.

Ultra Brief Psychological Interventions for COVID-19 Pandemic: Introduction of a Locally-Adapted Brief Intervention for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Service.

The ultra-brief psychological interventions (UBPI) was created in 2018 to empower healthcare providers with psychological skills that can be delivered within a short period. Techniques used within UBPI were adopted from a variety of well established psychotherapies and distilled into its core essentials. This enabled practitioners of UBPI to deliver specific psychological skills in the appropriate context to the client within a period of 15-20 min. UBPI was also manualised to standardised training of practitioners. During the novel coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, UBPI was modified to suit the unique psychological demands of the pandemic. This article presents how UBPI was adapted and used with healthcare providers dealing with COVID-19 and also with the public who required psychological first aid (PFA).