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Emotion identification and tension in female patients with borderline personality disorder
Author(s) -
Wolff Sabine,
Stiglmayr Christian,
Bretz Hans Joachim,
Lammers ClaasHinrich,
Auckenthaler Anna
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
british journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0144-6657
DOI - 10.1348/014466507x173736
Subject(s) - borderline personality disorder , psychology , affect (linguistics) , identification (biology) , affect regulation , clinical psychology , personality , developmental psychology , social psychology , attachment theory , botany , communication , biology
Objectives. This study investigates the identification of emotions in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), when compared with mentally healthy control subjects. The inability to identify different emotions is considered as an essential component of affect dysregulation in BPD that has rarely been empirically investigated. Methods. In this study, 30 female borderline patients and 28 healthy control participants received a handheld‐PC for a 24‐hour period that reminded them hourly to enter data. Results. When compared with the control group, patients showed pronounced difficulties in emotion identification. Moreover, the data revealed a significant relationship between difficulties in identifying emotions and levels of aversive inner tension for BPD patients, but not for control subjects. Conclusions. Results indicate that the inability to identify different emotions is a problem that characterizes borderline patients in real‐life situations. Treatment programs should, therefore, focus on the improvement of emotion identification and regulation.