An experimental investigation of emotion dysregulation in borderline personality disorder.
Despite the prominent role of emotion dysregulation in theoretical accounts of borderline personality disorder (BPD), few studies have examined emotion dysregulation in BPD. This study extends extant research by providing an experimental investigation of emotion dysregulation among outpatients with BPD. Specifically, this study modified an experimental measure of distress tolerance to examine differences between outpatients with BPD (n = 17) and those without a personality disorder (n = 18) in 2 aspects of emotion dysregulation: (a) the unwillingness to experience emotional distress in order to pursue goal-directed behavior and (b) the inability to engage in goal-directed behavior when distressed. As hypothesized, BPD participants were less willing to experience distress in order to pursue goal-directed behavior. However, BPD participants did not evidence greater difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior when distressed. Results highlight directions for future research and suggest that particular aspects of emotion dysregulation may be more or less relevant to BPD.
Gratz
Kim L
KL
0000-0002-2659-6784
Center for the Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder.
Rosenthal
M Zachary
MZ
Department of Psychiatry.
Tull
Matthew T
MT
0000-0002-1382-117X
Psychology Service (116B).
Lejuez
C W
CW
Department of Psychology.
Gunderson
John G
JG
Department of Psychiatry.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires