Gleeson 2012.

Study characteristics
Methods	16 weekly session trial with 2 arms Helping Young People Early specialist first‐episode psychosis treatment (HYPE + SFET) Specialist first‐episode psychosis treatment (SFET) Duration of trial: 16 weekly sessions Country: Australia Setting: outpatient and inpatient.
Participants	Method of recruitment of participants: participants identified by the research assistant in consultation with the outpatient case manager, using a checklist of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM‐IV) for borderline personality disorder criteria Diagnosis of borderline personality disorder: DSM‐IV Means of assessment: Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM‐IV Axis I Disorders, Patient Edition (SCID‐I/P) and the antisocial and borderline personality disorder modules for Axis II disorders (SCID‐II) Mean age: 18.4 years (standard deviation = 2.9) Sex: 82% female Comorbidity: 12 participants had a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (i.e. greater than or equal to 5 DSM‐IV criteria), and 4 cases had sub‐syndromal borderline personality disorder (4 DSM‐IV criteria) Inclusion criteria Participants were required to have 4 or more DSM‐IV borderline personality disorder features. Exclusion criteria Severe and enduring psychotic symptoms (defined as scores of 4 or more on 1 or more psychotic items of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), which had persisted for more than 1 month unless symptoms were assessed by treating clinicians as not interfering with psychosocial functioning) Unable to converse in or read English without an interpreter Intellectual deficits precluding meaningful participation in individual psychotherapy Informed consent previously provided for another psychotherapy trial at study site, or already received a course of cognitive analytic therapy, or both
Interventions	Experimental group Treatment name: HYPE + SFET Number randomised to group: 8 Duration: 16 weekly sessions Control/comparison group Comparison name: SFET Number randomised to group: 8 Duration: not stated Both groups Concomitant psychotherapy: not stated Concomitant pharmacotherapy: eligible for inclusion in study if had less than 6 months of previous treatment with antipsychotic medication Proportions of participants taking standing psychotropic medication during trial observation period: “patients taking medications. There were seven cases in the HYPE + SFET [87.5%] and five cases in the SFET [62.5%].” (Gleeson 2012, p. 26) Mean adherence did not differ sig. between groups (P = 0.983). (Tab. 2)
Outcomes	Primary Suicide‐related outcomes, assessed by the suicidal subscale of the Overt Aggression Scale ‐ Modified for outpatients (OAS‐M) Secondary Anger, assessed by the labile anger subscale of the Anger Irritability and Assault Questionnaire (AIAQ) Depression, assessed by the anhedonia subscale of the Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms Attrition, in terms of patients lost after randomisation in each group
Notes	Sample size calculation: no Ethics approval: no Comments from review authors: We contacted Dr Gleeson by email asking for separate data on the participants older than 18 years of age. Dr Gleeson could not provide us with these data as very few participants were older than 18 years of age.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Quote: “Randomization was coordinated by the statistician (SC) and was based on a computer‐generated number list.” (p. 23)
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	High risk	Quote: “Outcome ratings were made by the study research assistant (RA) who was independent of the treatment, but not blind to treatment allocation because of limited resources for conducting the pilot study”. (p. 23)
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Quote: “Outcome ratings were made by the study research assistant (RA) who was independent of the treatment, but not blind to treatment allocation because of limited resources for conducting the pilot study”. (p. 23)
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	High risk	Comment: attrition rates: HYPE + SFET, number of participants = 4/8 and SFET, number of participants = 4/8. No reasons for attrition reported. 50% dropout rate. High risk of bias. No report of imputation method (e.g. ITT, as treated). Potential risk of bias. Summed up: High risk of bias
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	High risk	Comment: no report of primary or secondary outcomes in the study (unlike the protocol)
Other bias	Unclear risk	Treatment adherence: Fidelity to CAT was managed by weekly group CAT supervision provided by two trained CAT supervisors (AC and LMc). (p. 23) Allegiance bias: Nothing found. Attention bias: No report of duration of the SFET group.