Open AccessEmotion regulation, mindfulness, and self-compassion among patients with borderline personality disorder, compared to healthy control subjects
Author(s) -
Ella Salgó,
Liliána Szeghalmi,
Bettina Bajzát,
Eszter Berán,
Zsolt Unoka
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0248409
Subject(s) - mindfulness , self compassion , borderline personality disorder , psychology , clinical psychology , multivariate analysis of variance , emotional dysregulation , personality , self control , emotional regulation , personality disorders , facet (psychology) , big five personality traits , developmental psychology , social psychology , machine learning , computer science
Objectives Emotion regulation difficulties are a major characteristic of personality disorders. Our study investigated emotion regulation difficulties that are characteristic of borderline personality disorder (BPD), compared to a healthy control group. Methods Patients with BPD (N = 59) and healthy participants (N = 70) filled out four self-report questionnaires (Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, Self-Compassion Scale) that measured the presence or lack of different emotion-regulation strategies. Differences between the BPD and the healthy control group were investigated by Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and univariate post-hoc F-test statistics. Results People suffering from BPD had statistically significantly (p<0.05) higher levels of emotional dysregulation and used more maladaptive emotion-regulation strategies, as well as lower levels of mindfulness and self-compassion compared to the HC group. Conclusion In comparison to a healthy control group, BPD patients show deficits in the following areas: mindfulness, self-compassion and adaptive emotion-regulation strategies. Based on these results, we suggest that teaching emotion-regulation, mindfulness, and self-compassion skills to patients can be crucial in the treatment of borderline personality disorder.