Components of Emotion Dysregulation in Borderline Personality Disorder: A Review

Abstract

Following Linehan’s biosocial model, we conceptualize emotion dysregulation in borderline personality disorder (BPD) as consisting of four components: emotion sensitivity, heightened and labile negative affect, a deficit of appropriate regulation strategies, and a surplus of maladaptive regulation strategies. We review the evidence supporting each of these components. Given the complexity of the construct of emotion dysregulation and its involvement in many disorders, there is a need for research that specifies which components of emotion dysregulation are under study and also examines the interplay amongst these emotion dysregulation components.

Affective instability in patients with chronic pain: a diary approach

“…One explanation for current findings may be found in the type and quality of emotion regulation skills. Indeed, affective instability has previously been interpreted as reflecting a dysfunctional regulation of emotions [8,47]. Although this view mostly stems from the literature on psychopathology, similar processes may play a role when for chronic pain patients have to cope coping with the daily demands of pain [17].…”

“…In consideration of affective instability as a reflection of dysfunctional emotion regulation [8,47], we also investigated the relationship between affective instability and measures of emotional functioning,…”

“…Affective instability may reflect problems in regulating affect [8,47], which is a key feature of mental disorders [20]. In line with this view, affective instability has been found to be associated with lower wellbeing and various forms of psychopathology [15,25,55,56].…”

“…Affective instability may be considered an indicator of dysregulated affect [8,47]. As pain is conceptualized as a sensory and emotional experience, affective instability is likely to be closely related to the dysfunctional regulation of pain.…”

Using Functional Neuroimaging to Refine the Diagnostic Construct of Borderline Personality Disorder

“…Emotion sensitivity refers to the threshold at which a person is able to detect emotional stimuli, while emotion recognition refers to the ability to accurately identify the emotion of detected emotional stimuli [94,95]. As some of the aforementioned studies on ToM have suggested [49], emotion sensitivity and recognition are often studied as a part of, or in tandem with, studies of ToM.…”