Anger rumination and aggressive behaviour in borderline personality disorder.
BACKGROUND
Emotional instability and dyscontrolled behaviours are central features in borderline personality disorder (BPD). Recently, some cognitive dysfunctional mechanisms, such as anger rumination, have been found to increase negative emotions and promote dyscontrolled behaviours. Even though rumination has consistently been linked to BPD traits in non-clinical samples, its relationship with problematic behaviour has yet to be established in a clinical population.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the study was to explore the relationships between emotional dysregulation, anger rumination and aggression proneness in a clinical sample of patients with BPD.


METHODS
Enrolled patients with personality disorders (93 with BPD) completed a comprehensive assessment for personality disorder symptoms, anger rumination, emotional dysregulation and aggression proneness.


RESULTS
Anger rumination was found to significantly predict aggression proneness, over and above emotional dysregulation. Furthermore, both BPD diagnosis and anger rumination were significant predictors of aggression proneness.


CONCLUSIONS
Future research should examine whether clinical techniques aimed at reducing rumination are helpful for reducing aggressive and other dyscontrolled behaviours in treating patients with BPD.
Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, DIMEC, University of Bologna, Italy.|Studi Cognitivi, Cognitive Psychotherapy School, Milano, Italy.
Francesca
F
Martino
Studi Cognitivi, Cognitive Psychotherapy School, Milano, Italy.|Sigmund Freud University, Milano, Italy.
Gabriele
G
Caselli
Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, DIMEC, University of Bologna, Italy.
Domenico
D
Berardi
Studi Cognitivi, Cognitive Psychotherapy School, Milano, Italy.
Francesca
F
Fiore
Private Hospital Villa Margherita, Vicenza, Italy.
Erika
E
Marino
Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, DIMEC, University of Bologna, Italy.
Marco
M
Menchetti
Private Hospital Villa Margherita, Vicenza, Italy.
Elena
E
Prunetti
Studi Cognitivi, Cognitive Psychotherapy School, Milano, Italy.
Giovanni Maria
GM
Ruggiero
Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences-DIBINEM, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Anna
A
Sasdelli
Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA.
Edward
E
Selby
Studi Cognitivi, Cognitive Psychotherapy School, Milano, Italy.
Sandra
S
Sassaroli
D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression; D000786:Anger; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013850:Thinking; D055815:Young Adult