Development of a borderline personality disorder-relevant picture stimulus set.
Individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) report erratic and poorly regulated emotional behavior. However, these abnormalities have not been confirmed in laboratory studies. This may be because the emotional stimuli employed have not been sufficiently relevant or evocative of psychological themes germane to BPD (e.g., threats to attachment). The aim of this study was to develop a picture stimulus set relevant to BPD that could be employed in research to examine emotion dysregulation thought to be central to BPD. Ninety pictures were initially selected from the International Affective Picture System that had putative interpersonal and social content across a range of pleasantness and intensity. The set was then rated by 19 clinical BPD research experts on two dimensions: How self-referential the picture would be to someone with BPD and the extent to which the picture represented an ideal-other to a prototypic BPD case. Two sets of pictures were generated for future research with BPD participants.
National Center for PTSD at VA Boston Healthcare System and Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02130, USA. Denise.Sloan@va.gov
Denise M
DM
Sloan
Christopher T
CT
Sege
Lauren B
LB
McSweeney
Michael K
MK
Suvak
M Tracie
MT
Shea
Brett T
BT
Litz
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003463:Cues; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000592:standards*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D014796:Visual Perception