title: Increased attempts to suppress negative and positive emotions in Borderline Personality Disorder.
abstract: Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) show evidence of disturbed emotion regulation. In particular, patients may try to suppress their emotions with possibly negative effects on mental health. We investigated the suppression of both negative and positive emotions in BPD patients and healthy participants. Thirty BPD patients and 30 matched healthy controls were assessed for emotion suppression using the Emotion Acceptance Questionnaire (EAQ). In addition, we administered additional questionnaires to validate emotion suppression findings. BPD patients reported increased attempts to suppress both negative and positive emotions. These findings indicate that BPD patients are not simply acting out negative emotions. Therapeutic approaches that focus on emotion acceptance of emotions are supported by our study data. Apart from negative emotions, treatment programs should consider positive emotions as well.
authors.affiliation: Department of Research, Evaluation and Documentation, Clinic of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bethel, Remterweg 69-71, 33617 Bielefeld, Germany; Department of Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Germany. Electronic address: thomas.beblo@evkb.de.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Beblo
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fernando
authors.forename: Pia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kamper
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Griepenstroh
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aschenbrenner
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pastuszak
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Schlosser
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Driessen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004644:Emotions; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012752:Shame; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Borderline Personality Disorder; Emotion acceptance; Emotion regulation; Emotion suppression