A momentary assessment study of the reputed emotional phenotype associated with borderline personality disorder

2007 ◽  
Vol 38 (9) ◽  
pp. 1231-1239 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.-P. Glaser ◽  
J. Van Os ◽  
R. Mengelers ◽  
I. Myin-Germeys
Keyword(s):  
Borderline Personality Disorder ◽  
Personality Disorder ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Stress Reactivity ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Stress Sensitivity ◽  
Borderline Personality ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Borderline Patients

SUMMARYBackgroundStress is postulated to play an essential role in the expression of core borderline symptoms. However, the phenomenology of stress reactivity in borderline personality disorder remains unclear. The current study investigated the phenomenology of stress sensitivity in borderline personality disorder in the flow of daily life and compared this with stress sensitivity in patients suffering from psychotic disorders, a group so far known to report the largest reactivity to stress.MethodA total of 44 borderline patients, 42 patients with psychotic disorder and 49 healthy controls were studied with the Experience Sampling Method (a structured diary technique assessing current context and mood in daily life) to assess: (1) appraised subjective stress related to daily events and activities; and (2) emotional reactivity conceptualized as changes in positive and negative affect.ResultsMultilevel regression analysis revealed that subjects with borderline personality disorder experienced significantly more emotional reactivity to daily life stress compared with both patients with psychosis and healthy controls, as evidenced by a larger increase in negative affect and a larger decrease in positive affect following stress.ConclusionThese results are the first to ecologically validate the incorporation of stress reactive symptoms in the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Borderline patients continually react stronger than patients with psychosis and healthy controls to small disturbances that continually happen in the natural flow of everyday life. Altered emotional stress reactivity may define borderline personality disorder.

scholarly journals Borderline personality disorder: stress reactivity or stress generation? A prospective dimensional study

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Timothy A. Allen ◽  
Alexandre Y. Dombrovski ◽  
Paul H. Soloff ◽  
Michael N. Hallquist
Keyword(s):  
Borderline Personality Disorder ◽  
Personality Disorder ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Stressful Life Events ◽  
Stress Reactivity ◽  
Clinical Sample ◽  
Borderline Personality ◽  
Stress Generation ◽  
Stressful Life

Abstract Background Individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) often describe their lives as stressful and unpredictable. However, it is unclear whether the adversity faced by those with BPD is a product of stress reactivity or stress generation. Here, we examined the dynamic, prospective associations between BPD and stressful life events over 3 years. Given the heterogeneity present in BPD, we sought to understand which empirically derived dimensions of this heterogeneous disorder explain stress reactivity v. stress generation. Methods Participants included 355 individuals diagnosed with BPD and followed longitudinally at three annual assessments. Auto-regressive cross-lagged panel models were used to examine prospective associations between stressful life events and three latent dimensions implicated in BPD: negative affect, disinhibition, and antagonism. Results Antagonism and disinhibition, but not negative affect, prospectively predicted dependent stressful life events (events the individual may have some role in). Evidence for decompensation under stress was more tenuous, with independent stressful life events (those presumably outside the individual's control) predicting increases in negative affect. Conclusions Our longitudinal study of a well-characterized clinical sample found more evidence for stress generation than for stress-induced decompensation in BPD. Stress generation in BPD is driven by externalizing dimensions: antagonism and disinhibition. These results highlight the utility of empirically derived dimensions for parsing heterogeneity present in BPD, leading to improvements in diagnostic evaluation, clinical prediction, and individualized approaches to treatment planning.

scholarly journals Borderline personality disorder: Stress reactivity or stress generation? A prospective dimensional study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Allen
Keyword(s):  
Borderline Personality Disorder ◽  
Personality Disorder ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Stressful Life Events ◽  
Stress Reactivity ◽  
Clinical Sample ◽  
Borderline Personality ◽  
Stress Generation ◽  
Stressful Life

Background: Individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) often describe their lives as stressful and unpredictable. However, it is unclear whether the adversity faced by those with BPD is a product of stress reactivity or stress generation. Here, we examined the dynamic, prospective associations between BPD and stressful life events over three years. Given the heterogeneity present in BPD, we sought to understand which empirically derived dimensions of this heterogenous disorder explain stress reactivity vs. stress generation.Methods: Participants included 355 individuals diagnosed with BPD and followed longitudinally at three annual assessments. Auto-regressive cross-lagged panel models were used to examine prospective associations between stressful life events and three latent dimensions implicated in BPD: negative affect, disinhibition, and antagonism. Results: Antagonism and disinhibition, but not negative affect, prospectively predicted dependent stressful life events (events the individual may have some role in). Evidence for decompensation under stress was more tenuous, with independent stressful life events (those presumably outside the individual’s control) predicting increases in negative affect.Conclusions: Our longitudinal study of a well-characterized clinical sample found more evidence for stress generation than for stress-induced decompensation in BPD. Stress generation in BPD is driven by externalizing dimensions: antagonism and disinhibition. These results highlight the utility of empirically derived dimensions for parsing heterogeneity present in BPD, leading to improvements in diagnostic evaluation, clinical prediction, and individualized approaches to treatment planning.

Progression from interpersonal problems to suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior in borderline personality disorder

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Allen ◽  
Michael Hallquist ◽  
Aidan G.C. Wright ◽  
Alexandre Dombrovski
Keyword(s):  
Borderline Personality Disorder ◽  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
Personality Disorder ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Borderline Personality ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Interpersonal Dysfunction ◽  
Suicidal Crisis

Importance: Clinicians treating borderline personality disorder (BPD) are often faced with the difficult challenge of assessing when, and for whom, risk for suicide is greatest. Addressing this dilemma requires longitudinal, prospective data from high-risk samples with an elevated base rate of suicide attempts.Objective: To test whether dispositional characteristics modulate the pathway from interpersonal dysfunction to suicide in BPD. Design: This longitudinal, observational study was conducted between 1990 and 2020. Data were analyzed between April and July 2020. Participants were assessed annually for up to 30 years (mean number of follow-ups = 7.82). Setting: Participants were recruited from inpatient, outpatient, and community referral sources.Participants: 458 individuals (Mean age = 28.59, 77% female) diagnosed with BPD.Main Outcomes and Measures: Presence or absence of a suicide attempt within one year of each follow-up assessment. Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to 1) examine longitudinal, within-person transitions from interpersonal dysfunction to suicidal ideation to suicide attempts (i.e., the [I]nterpersonal-[I]deation-[A]ttempt pathway); and 2) evaluate whether two maladaptive personality dimensions, negative affect and disinhibition, moderated these transitions.Results: At the within-person level, there was support for the I-I-A pathway: suicidal ideation accounted for the association between interpersonal dysfunction and suicide attempts. Personality further moderated each component of the I-I-A pathway: negative affect was associated with a stronger coupling between interpersonal dysfunction and ideation; and disinhibition was associated with a stronger coupling between ideation and attempts. Conclusions and Relevance: The escalation from interpersonal difficulties to a suicidal crisis in BPD involves two psychologically distinct process. An internalizing process links interpersonal dysfunction to suicidal ideation and is facilitated by trait negative. An additional externalizing process links suicidal ideation to suicide attempts, and is facilitated by trait disinhibition. Assessment of these intra- and interindividual risk factors may inform clinical decisions about when, and for whom, crisis intervention is necessary.

Shame in Borderline Personality Disorder: Meta-Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (Supplement A) ◽  
pp. 149-161
Author(s):  
Tzipi Buchman-Wildbaum ◽  
Zsolt Unoka ◽  
Robert Dudas ◽  
Gabriella Vizin ◽  
Zsolt Demetrovics ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Borderline Personality Disorder ◽  
Personality Disorder ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Education Level ◽  
Borderline Personality ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Moderator Variables ◽  
Core Feature ◽  
Ptsd Symptomatology

Shame has been found to be a core feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD). To date, there is no existing systematic review or meta-analysis examining shame in individuals with BPD as compared to healthy controls (HCs). A meta-analysis of 10 studies comparing reported shame in BPD patients to HCs was carried out. Demographic and clinical moderator variables were included to see if they have a relationship with the effect size. Results showed that those with BPD had more reported shame than healthy controls. In addition, in BPD patients and HCs, higher education level was related to lower reported shame. In HCs, it was found that those who were younger reported a higher level of shame. Finally, among BPD patients, there was a relationship between levels of reported shame and elevated PTSD symptomatology. These findings emphasize the clinical relevance of shame in individuals with BPD and the need to formulate psychotherapeutic strategies that target and decrease shame.

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