Longitudinal examination of borderline personality disorder symptoms and drug use: The influence of negative and positive emotion dysregulation

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with greater substance use. Emotion dysregulation has been implicated in both BPD and substance use, yet there is limited research examining the role of emotion dysregulation in the BPD-substance use relation. We examined the independent and interactive associations of BPD symptoms and emotion dysregulation in reported drug use over 1 year. Participants (N = 143) were over-recruited for BPD, assessed via interview, and completed measures of negative and positive emotion dysregulation. Drug use frequency was assessed with monthly surveys over a 1-year period. Results demonstrated interrelations among BPD symptoms and both negative and positive emotion dysregulation. However, when modeling BPD and emotion dysregulation together, only higher BPD symptoms were associated with more frequent drug use. Findings support the relation of BPD symptoms and emotion dysregulation but suggest that emotion dysregulation may not account for drug use frequency above and beyond BPD in community-recruited populations.

Difficulties in interpersonal regulation of emotion in relation to disordered eating

Eating disorders (EDs) are associated with emotion regulation difficulties. However, most studies have examined intrapersonal emotion regulation difficulties and strategies without consideration of interpersonal emotion regulation (IER). Thus, it remains unknown whether intrinsic IER (i.e., how people regulate their emotions through others) is associated with disordered eating. The present study examined whether putatively maladaptive IER strategies such as reassurance seeking and venting were associated with ED cognitions, behaviors, and symptom severity. Additionally, we examined whether IER strategy use varied as a function of probable ED diagnosis. A sample of 181 college students (Mage = 20.01 years, SD = 2.18) from a large northeastern university completed self-report measures of disordered eating, IER strategies, and intrapersonal emotion regulation difficulties. As predicted, reassurance seeking was associated with most ED symptomatology and ED symptom severity except for fasting frequency. Venting was only associated with body dissatisfaction. Associations between reassurance seeking and ED symptom severity and excessive exercise frequency remained significant even after controlling for sex and intrapersonal emotion regulation strategies. Finally, participants with a probable ED diagnosis reported greater reassurance seeking but not venting compared to nonprobable ED cases. These findings highlight the important associations between IER strategy use and disordered eating, namely, reassurance seeking. Additional research is needed to examine the associations between IER strategy use and disordered eating longitudinally.

Borderline personality disorder and multidimensional impulsivity: The roles of positive and negative emotion dysregulation

BACKGROUND

Risky, self-destructive impulsivity and emotion dysregulation are core features of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Yet impulsivity is multidimensional and has rarely been comprehensively assessed in BPD. Impulsivity has been linked to negative emotion dysregulation, yet explorations of the role of positive emotion dysregulation have been neglected. The current study attempts to extend existing literature by identifying the pattern of associations of specific domains of impulsivity, using both self-report and behavioral measures in BPD, and the role of both negative and positive emotion dysregulation in this link.

METHODS

Adults with BPD (n = 48), subthreshold BPD (n = 37), and without BPD (n = 78) completed a diagnostic interview, self-report measures, and multiple behavioral tasks. We examined correlations between primary variables, then examined the role of negative and positive emotion dysregulation in the association between BPD and specific domains of impulsivity.

RESULTS

Negative emotion dysregulation accounted for the link between BPD and negative urgency, (lack of) premeditation, and (lack of) perseverance, while positive emotion dysregulation accounted for the relation between BPD and sensation seeking.

LIMITATIONS

Key limitations of this study include using a relatively homogeneous sample and using abbreviated versions of one behavioral task, among others discussed.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings locate the precise impulsivity impairments in BPD and highlight the differential roles of negative and positive emotion dysregulation. Understanding the impulsivity deficits associated with BPD will further explain the impulsive behaviors associated with this disorder, and the contexts in which they occur, which may streamline clinical treatments.

Testing the Influence of Brooding and Anger Rumination on the Association Between Suicidal Outcomes and BPD Features in Undergraduate Students

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms and suicidal behaviors are prevalent among undergraduate students. Although rumination contributes to self-destructive behaviors in BPD, less research examines the role of rumination in distinct suicidal outcomes among individuals with BPD features instead focusing more on self-destructive behaviors as a latent variable. The present study examined the main and interactive effects of BPD features and two forms of rumination (brooding and anger) in the prediction of suicide-related outcomes (ideation and attempts) among college students. Participants (N = 181 undergraduate students, overrecruited for BPD features; 55.2% female) reported their lifetime suicide risk, brooding rumination, anger rumination, and BPD features. Brooding rumination and BPD features were associated with suicidal ideation. Anger rumination was not associated with suicide-related outcomes. Findings suggest that brooding rumination is a potential intervention target for suicidal ideation in undergraduate students whereas further research is required to determine the association between anger rumination and suicidal ideation and attempts.

Association of Positive Emotion Dysregulation to Resting Heart Rate Variability: The Influence of Positive Affect Intensity

Background

A fast-growing body of research provides support for the role of positive emotion dysregulation in the etiology and maintenance of a wide range of psychiatric difficulties and clinically relevant behaviors. However, this work has exclusively relied on the subjective assessment of positive emotion dysregulation. Advancing research, the current study examined associations between physiological and subjective indices of positive emotional responding in the laboratory. Specifically, we explored the relation of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale - Positive (Weiss, Gratz, & Lavender, 2015) to resting heart rate variability (HRV) at high and low state positive affect intensity.

Methods

Participants were 122 individuals recruited from college and community settings (M _age = 23.39, 84.4% female, 68.0% White).

Results

Findings indicated a positive relation between positive emotion dysregulation and resting HRV at high state positive affect and a negative relation between positive emotion dysregulation and resting HRV at low state positive affect.

Conclusions

Results extend our understanding of the associations among subjective and physiological indices of positive emotional processes. These findings have key implications for the conduct of research on positive emotion dysregulation.