Emotion regulation, mindfulness, and self-compassion among patients with borderline personality disorder, compared to healthy control subjects

Abstract

Objectives Emotion regulation difficulties are a major characteristic of personality disorders. Our study investigated emotion regulation difficulties that are characteristic of borderline personality disorder (BPD), compared to a healthy control group. Methods Patients with BPD (N = 59) and healthy participants (N = 70) filled out four self-report questionnaires (Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, Self-Compassion Scale) that measured the presence or lack of different emotion-regulation strategies. Differences between the BPD and the healthy control group were investigated by Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and univariate post-hoc F-test statistics. Results People suffering from BPD had statistically significantly (p<0.05) higher levels of emotional dysregulation and used more maladaptive emotion-regulation strategies, as well as lower levels of mindfulness and self-compassion compared to the HC group. Conclusion In comparison to a healthy control group, BPD patients show deficits in the following areas: mindfulness, self-compassion and adaptive emotion-regulation strategies. Based on these results, we suggest that teaching emotion-regulation, mindfulness, and self-compassion skills to patients can be crucial in the treatment of borderline personality disorder.

An examination of the relations between emotion dysregulation, dissociation, and self-injury among dissociative disorder patients

“…M = 114.79–139.76), these DD patients had similarly high scores on overall emotion dysregulation ( M = 118.76); however, DD patients consistently struggled more than BPD patients with emotional Awareness, Clarity, and Nonacceptance of emotional responses, and struggled less than BPD patients with Goals, Strategies, and Impulsivity (e.g. Ibraheim, Kalpakci, & Sharp, 2017 ; Rufino, Ellis, Clapp, Pearte, & Fowler, 2017 ; Salgó, Szeghalmi, Bajzát, Berán, & Unoka, 2021 ). In other words, DD patients had more difficulty than BPD patients on the subscales related to their ability to be aware of, accept, and cognitively process emotions, all of which are internal processes not observable to others.…”

Effectiveness of compassion‐focused therapy for self‐criticism in patients with personality disorders: a multiple baseline case series study

“…Although existing psychotherapies for PD such as dialectical behavior therapy and schema therapy acknowledge the importance of self‐criticism, it is not directly targeted. As a consequence, directly addressing self‐criticism has been recommended to improve psychotherapy for PDs (Beaumont & Hollins Martin, 2015; Donald et al, 2019; Fagan et al, 2022; Leaviss & Uttley, 2015; Salgó et al, 2021; Wakelin et al, 2021).…”

The Pathology of Borderline Personality Disorder Symptomatology in a Nonclinical Sample: The Role of Mental Pain, Cognitive Emotion Regulation, Self-compassion, and Depression

“…Patients with PBD often experience negative emotions like jealousy, abandonment, rejection, hatred, anger, loneliness, shame, and guilt [10]. They show inappropriate reactions to emotions, like angry and impulsive outbursts, impulsive behavioral responses, and unstable feelings [11]. Cognitive strategies play an important role in emotion regulation [11].…”

“…They show inappropriate reactions to emotions, like angry and impulsive outbursts, impulsive behavioral responses, and unstable feelings [11]. Cognitive strategies play an important role in emotion regulation [11]. BPD patients use cognitive strategies of maladaptive emotion regulation (avoidance, suppression, and rumination) more than other mechanisms (acceptance, cognitive reassessment, problem-solving) [12].…”