Empathy in Families of Women with Borderline Personality Disorder, Anorexia Nervosa, and a Control Group*

Abstract

This is a study of empathy in the families of 27 women with borderline personality disorder (BPD), 28 women with restricting anorexia nervosa (AN), and 27 women without a clinical diagnosis (NC). The daughters and both parents responded to the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), an instrument for assessing four dimensions of empathy. In addition, they were personally interviewed, with the Family Interview for Protectiveness and Empathy (FIPE), about the extent of empathy expressed by the parents to their daughter during her development. On the IRI, women with BPD scored highest on the immature and lowest on the mature aspects of empathy, whereas scores of AN and NC women were all within normal limits. Parents of BPDs had the lowest IRI scores, while parents of AN and NC groups were similar to each other and to criterion group scores. IRI scores of AN daughters were positively correlated with their parents' scores whereas BPDs' scores were negatively correlated with those of their parents. There were no correlations between the IRI scores of NC subjects and their parents. On the FIPE, borderline daughters and parents agreed about the relative absence of empathic parenting, whereas AN and NC daughters and parents agreed as to the presence of empathic parenting. The theoretical and clinical implications of these contrasting findings are discussed.

Self–other control processes in social cognition: from imitation to empathy

“…Several authors [25][26][27] have argued that responses to the pain of another can be considered on a maturational gradient determined by self -other control. Under these models, PD is considered to be an immature response to another's pain in which representation of the other's pain is unable to be inhibited, to the extent that the observer feels a significant degree of negative arousal.…”

The Role of Measurement Error in Familiar Statistics

“…An instructive example is provided in the work of Guttman (2000) in a study of 16-to 40-year-old females. Independent variables for the analysis of variance were based on meeting the criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., revised; American Psychiatric Association, 1987) for the clinical conditions of anorexia nervosa and borderline personality disorder.…”

The Specific Role of Childhood Abuse, Parental Bonding, and Family Functioning in Female Adolescents With Borderline Personality Disorder

“…Findings from cross-sectional studies reported low empathy and conflicting family relationships (Allen et al, 2005;Gunderson & Lyoo, 1997), contradictory family communication patterns (Guttman & Laporte, 2000), and lack of perceived protection by mothers (Lyons-Ruth, Choi-Kain, Pechtel, Bertha, & Gunderson, 2011) in families of adults with BPD when compared to both normative and clinical controls.…”