Kamalabadi 2012.

Study characteristics
Methods	14‐week trial with 2 arms Dialectical behavior therapy couple (DBT‐C) Control group (waiting list) Duration of trial: 14‐week intervention Country: Iran Setting: outpatient
Participants	Method of recruitment of participants: referred by psychiatrists of Hafez, Ebne Sina and Razy hospitals in Shiraz Sample size: 30 Diagnosis of borderline personality disorder: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM‐IV) Means of assessment: Borderline Personality Severity Index ‐ Fourth Version (BPDSI‐IV) Mean age: not stated Sex: 100% male Comorbidity: not stated Inclusion criteria Married males with borderline personality disorder Aged 18‐50 years old Exclusion criteria Lifetime diagnosis of schizophrenia Bipolar disorder Dissociative identity disorder Antisocial personality disorder Drug addiction Mental retardation
Interventions	Experimental group Treatment name: DBT‐C Number randomised to group: 15 Duration: 14 weekly sessions Control/comparison group Comparison name: waiting list Number randomised to group: 15 Duration: 14 weekly sessions Both groups Concomitant psychotherapy: not stated Concomitant pharmacotherapy: not stated Proportions of participants taking standing psychotropic medication during trial observation period: unclear
Outcomes	Primary BPD severity, assessed by the BPDSI‐IV, total score Suicide‐related outcome, assessed by BPDSI‐IV, parasuicidal subscale Psychosocial functioning, assessed by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), functioning subscale Secondary Anger, assessed by the BPDSI‐IV, anger subscale Affective instability, assessed by the BPDSI‐IV, affect subscale Chronic feelings of emptiness, assessed by the BPDSI‐IV, emptiness subscale Impulsivity, assessed by the BPDSI‐ IV, impulsivity subscale Interpersonal problems, assessed by the BPDSI‐IV, interpersonal subscale Abandonment, assessed by the BPDSI‐IV, abandonment subscale Identity disturbance, assessed by the BPDSI‐IV, identity subscale Dissociation and psychotic‐like symptoms, assessed by the BPDSI‐IV, dissociation subscale Depression, assessed by the GHQ, depression subscale
Notes	Sample size calculation: not stated Ethics approval: not stated Comments from review authors: Unclear whether this was, in fact, an RCT A lot of missing information Underpowered sample
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Comment: no information on random sequence generation
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Comment: no information provided on allocation concealment
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Comment: no clear information provided about blinding of outcome assessors
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Comment: no information of how many were included and number of dropouts. ANOVA was applied but data analysis was not specified and attrition not reported.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	Comment: no protocol found, therefore we could not assess the risk of bias due to selective reporting.
Other bias	High risk	Treatment adherence: no clear information provided Allegiance bias: no indication of bias Attention bias: more attention paid to the treatment group since control group was waiting list with no intervention Vested interest: no indication of bias due to vested interests