<p>The area of research that was investigated for this study is self-harm, which is also known as non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). NSSI can be defined as self-injury with no intention of dying. Examples of NSSI are the cutting of one’s skin or banging one’s head against the wall to the point of bruising. Digital self-harm (DSH) can be defined as cyberbullying directed at oneself. DSH is an area within NSSI and self-harm that has not been extensively studied. However, its consequences have already been fatal; in 2013, a 14-year-old suicide in the United Kingdom was linked to DSH. In this case, DSH manifested itself by masking as cyberbullying, when instead it was the individual themselves who was behind the malicious comments. Research shows that there are several risk factors for NSSI, one of which includes borderline personality disorder (BPD). BPD is a type of personality disorder that consists of impulsive and volatile mood. A high percentage of individuals diagnosed with BPD have been found to engage in NSSI. The current study conducted an anonymous Internet survey that measured the following variables: engagement in NSSI, engagement in DSH, what types of NSSI/DSH were engaged in, personality traits, and interpersonal/intrapersonal functions for engaging in NSSI or DSH. The study revealed that among freshmen at a large, Midwestern university (<i>N</i> = 112), individuals who engaged in NSSI were significantly more likely to engage in DSH. The sample included 61 (55%) of students who self-reported engaging in NSSI and 17 (15%) of students who reported engaging in DSH. However, the study did not find that all BPD personality traits correlated with individuals who engaged in DSH. Personality facets and functioning were similar among DSH and NSSI. Differences were found in levels of reinforcement function between individuals who engaged in DSH and NSSI. These results suggested a relationship between DSH behavior and BPD features, as well as the use of maladaptive strategies for self-regulating emotion. The authors conclude that future research should investigate different types of DSH and encourages clinical practitioners to include online behavior questionnaires in their evaluations of at-risk adolescents.</p>

The term splitting is defined as a process of formation of mental aggregates linked incompatible experiences producing numerous divisions in mental apparatus. Current findings indicate that psychological splitting in schizophrenia is likely specifically presented on a neural level as disrupted organization in neural communication. This disrupted neural communication likely underlies deficits in mental processing described by various neuroscientific concepts such as theories of disturbed connectivity, corollary discharges and dynamic complexity. In this context, a purpose of the theoretical part of the dissertation is to describe basic neuroscience theories that complementarily reflect interrelated processes between mind and brain underlying disturbances of mental integration that likely present a neural representation of the splitting. A purpose of the first part of the empirical research was to examine relationships between psychological process of splitting and disturbed cognitive and affective functions in schizophrenia. A sample of patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) was used as a control group in this study. Methods: In the clinical study, we have assessed 30 patients with schizophrenia and 35 patients with BPD. The symptoms of splitting were measured using self- reported...

Bakgrund: Emotionellt instabilt personlighetssyndrom (EIPS) karakteriseras av dramatiska känslomässiga svängningar, bristande impulskontroll, sviktande identitet/självbild och instabila relationer som manifesteras i självskador, missbruk och en förhöjd suicidrisk. Ofta har patienten utvecklat mindre gynnsamma strategier för att hantera sina känslor och EIPS är i hög grad associerat med samsjuklighet där ångest tillhör ett av det mest frekvent förekommande. Att arbeta med dessa patienter beskrivs ofta som utmanande och den emotionella berg- och dalbana som ofta förknippas med EIPS skapar många gånger frustration hos personalen. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att beskriva psykiatrisjuksköterskors erfarenheter av att möta patienter med EIPS och ångest. Metod: En kvalitativ intervjustudie samt utfört en innehållsanalys av insamlad data. Åtta individuella semistrukturerade intervjuer för att ta del av psykiatrisjuksköterskans erfarenheter. Resultat: Analysen av insamlad data resulterade i tre kategorier och sex subkategorier. Kategorierna var: Utmaningar med patientgruppen, faktorer som påverkar vårdrelationen samt stöd och utbildning. Det framkommer att patientens karaktärsdrag och ångestproblematik präglar psykiatrisjuksköterskans attityder och bemötande och en stor del av vården utgörs av att hjälpa patienten till sunda strategier för ångesthantering. Diskussion: Handledning kan ses ha en betydande funktion i psykiatrisjuksköterskans attityder och därmed bemötande av patienter med EIPS. / Background: Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is characterized by dramatic, emotional mood swings, lack of impulse control, failing self-image/identity and unstable relationships which manifests in self-harm behaviour, substance abuse and an increased suicide risk. It’s quite common that the patient will have developed less successful strategies to cope with their emotions and BPD is to a great extent, associated with comorbidity where anxiety is one of the most frequent factors. Dealing with these patients is often described as challenging and the emotional rollercoaster which is often associated with BPD poses many times as the main reason for frustration within the staff. Method: A qualitative interview study and a performed content analysis of collected data, eight individual semi-structured interviews with the intent to take part of the psychiatric nurse’s experiences. Aim: The aim of the study has been to describe the experiences of psychiatric nurses in their encounters with patients with BPD and anxiety. Results: The analysis of the collected data resulted in three categories and six subcategories. The categories are as follows: Challenges within the patient group, factors which affect the care relationship and support and education. It is revealed that the patient’s characteristic traits and anxiety disorders characterizes the psychiatric nurse’s attitude and treatment and a substantial part of the medical care consists of helping the patient develop sound strategies for anxiety management. Discussion: Supervision/guidance is seen to have a significant effect involving the psychiatric nurse’s attitude and therefore, approach to patients with BPD. / <p>Godkännandedatum: 2020-01-16</p>

This diploma thesis focuses on the psychosocial functioning of couples including a woman diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. To describe their functioning, a study following 16 clinical couples was performed and their characteristics were compared with a control sample of 21 couples. Three areas were monitored: personality styles of partners of women with BPD, attachment dimensions and partner satisfaction and its interrelationships with the mentioned variables. Data were obtained using a test battery consisting of the following questionnaires: PSSI, ECR-R-16 and DAS (the subscale for partner satisfaction). The results of the study showed that the borderline personality style in women is associated with similar and complementary personality traits in their partners, while these features of the partner are significantly higher in comparison with the control sample. The research also confirmed the predominance of the insecure attachment in women with borderline personality disorder and their partners. Borderline personality disorder is also connected with lower partner satisfaction as compared with the control sample, and the degree of the satisfaction is negatively linked with borderline personality style and styles that are closely associated. Partner satisfaction also shows negative...

No description available.

No description available.

Components of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) include emotion and cognitive dysregulation. The Emotional Cascade Model (Selby & Joiner, 2009; Selby et al., 2009) suggests negative affect and the cognitive process of rumination could be interchangeably increasing over time, leading to maladaptive behaviors. The current study evaluated negative thinking styles (i.e., anger rumination, sadness rumination, worry, catastrophizing) and thought control strategies (i.e., brooding, reflection, thought suppression) in relation to BPD traits using path analyses in a college student sample (N = 204). Results indicated anger rumination, sadness rumination, and worry indirectly predicted BPD traits through thought suppression, brooding, and reflection. However, catastrophizing did not directly predict any variable. Furthermore, reflection negatively and indirectly predicted BPD traits, while thought suppression and brooding had a positive and indirect effect on BPD traits. Understanding cognitions more in-depth could be influential in the assessment and treatment of BPD. Strengths, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Le CCRT est une mesure opérationnelle qui permet de mieux comprendre les schémas relationnels interpersonnels, les comportements, les émotions et les pensées. Il a été démontré que ces schémas relationnels sont liés aux interactions sociales et sont une caractéristique centrale des troubles de personnalité (Horowitz, 1991). Les objectifs de cette recherche sont: 1) d'évaluer la fidélité inter-juges du CCRT lorsqu'il est appliqué à des récits de patients atteints du trouble de personnalité état-limite (ÉL) et 2) de vérifier si les schémas relationnels conflictuels des patients ÉL, obtenus à l'aide du CCRT, diffèrent de ceux de patients qui ne souffrent pas de trouble de personnalité. Quarante patients ont participé à cette étude. La plupart avait un trouble sur I' Axe-1 du DSM-111-R (A.P.A., 1987). La moitié des sujets avait un trouble de personnalité ÉL, tandis que l'autre moitié n'avait aucun trouble de personnalité. Les résultats démontrent que le CCRT peut être appliqué de façon fiable aux récits de patients ayant le trouble de personnalité état-limite. Aucune différence significative n'a été observée entre les désirs (W) et les réponses des autres (RO) des deux groupes, cependant les deux groupes ont démontré des réponses du sujet (RS) différentes. Cette étude fait partie d'un projet de recherche auquel participent une centaine de patients et qui corrèle différentes mesures, dont le CCRT (Luborsky, 1984), )'Échelle de structure de Structure de Personnalité (ESP) (Diguer, 1994), et le Object representation inventory (Blatt et al., 1991). / The CCRT is an operational measure that gives us a better understanding of the relationships between object relations, schemas, behaviors, emotions and cognitions. It has also been demonstrated that these interpersonal relationship schemas are related to social interactions, and personality disorders (Horowitz, 1991). The goals of this study are to examine 1) whether the CCRT can be reliably applied to transcripts of Borderline Personality Disorder patients and 2) whether the CCRT from this population differ from those of non personality disorder patients. Fourty patients were included in this study. All presented with either a DSM-III-R Adjustment, mild Mood or Anxiety disorder. Half of the patients also had a Borderline personality disorder (BPD), the other half had no Axis-II diagnosis. The results show that the CCRT can indeed be applied to BPD patients’ narratives. No significant differences were found on the Wish and Response of Other components although difference has been found in the Response of Self component.This study is part of a larger project including about 100 patients and correlating several measures such as the CCRT (Luborsky, 1984), the Personality Structure Scale (PSS) (Diguer, 1994), and the Object representation inventory (Blatt et al., 1991).

Clients diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) interact with healthcare professionals in compelling ways. By virtue of the symptoms that define BPD, it is likely that the client will challenge the therapist with regards to their theoretical approach or therapeutic style. In addition, clients with BPD are likely to project their need for a therapeutic interaction that is both genuine, empathic and at the same time, flexible. In light of this, it is not uncommon for healthcare practitioners to consider clients with BPD as “difficult” in some way or the other. This study explores how clinical psychologists in Gauteng conceptualise and manage a “difficult” client presenting with Borderline Personality Disorder. Further, coping strategies of the clinician will also be explored. The qualitative study, couched in a social constructionist paradigm, involved interviewing seven clinical psychologists practicing in Gauteng, South Africa. The transcripts of the semi-structured interviews were thematically analysed. The findings of the current study indicated that the difficulties experienced are reflective of the general criteria of the disorder. The picture of the difficult client is painted by personal experience, as well as stereotypes gained from interactions with colleagues and other healthcare professionals. It was further found that management of these patients were viewed and implemented based on the nature of the disorder. In addition, management by the clinician often included supervision and leisure activities. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a disabling condition characterized by chronic emotion dysregulation and behavioral impulsivity. Prospective studies that test proposed mechanisms of within-person change in BPD hold the key to improving symptom predictability and control in this disorder. A small body of evidence suggests that fluctuations in estradiol such as those occurring naturally at ovulation during the monthly female reproductive cycle may increase symptoms in women with BPD (DeSoto et al., 2003). Furthermore, there is preliminary evidence that both self-esteem and feelings of social rejection are highest at ovulation, when estradiol peaks (Durante and Hill, 2009; Eisenlohr-Moul et al., under review). Such feelings have been reliably linked to increases in BPD-related behavior in all individuals (e.g., Twenge et al., 2002). The purpose of this dissertation was to test a cyclical vulnerability model for women with BPD in which ovulatory estradiol shifts are associated with reductions in felt social acceptance, which in turn are associated with increased BPD symptom expression. 40 women, sampled to achieve a flat distribution of BPD symptoms, completed 28 daily diaries online, as well as four 1-hour weekly visits to the laboratory to complete longer assessments and provide saliva samples, which were assayed for estradiol. In addition, participants underwent the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnosis of BPD at the end of the study. Results of multilevel models revealed the opposite of the predicted effects of within-person changes in estradiol and their interaction with trait BPD. The data suggest a pattern in which women high in trait BPD show increases in felt acceptance and reductions in BPD symptom expression at higher levels of conception probability and higher-than-usual levels of estradiol. Women low in trait BPD show the opposite pattern in some cases. Several alternative moderators were tested, and results suggest that some risk factors for BPD (e.g., Neuroticism, Sexual Abuse) interact with high trait levels of estradiol to predict greater symptoms. Both average levels of estradiol and monthly fluctuations in estradiol may have relevance for women with BPD. It is recommended that future studies utilize clinical samples and additional physiological measures to further elucidate the mechanisms through which estradiol exerts clinically-relevant change.