ساختار خودپنداره و اختلال شخصیت مرزی: مدارک و شواهد برای بخش بخش کردن منفی

Background and objectives Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by an unstable and incongruent self-concept. However, there is a dearth of empirical studies investigating self-concept in BPD. In order to bridge this research gap, the purpose of this study was to apply an in-depth analysis of structural aspects of the self-concept in BPD. Methods We examined the degree of compartmentalization, i.e., a tendency to organize knowledge about the self into discrete, extremely valenced (i.e., either positive or negative) categories (Showers, 1992). Results We hypothesized and found that BPD patients had the most compartmentalized self-concept structure and a higher proportion of negative self-attributes relative to both a non-clinical and a depressed control group. Moreover, BPD patients rated negative self-aspects as more important than positive ones relative to non-clinical controls. Limitations We cannot determine whether causal relationships exist between psychological symptoms and self-concept structure. Moreover, further comparisons to patients with other psychiatric disorders are necessary in order to further confirm the clinical specificity of our results. Conclusions Our findings indicate that a negative compartmentalized self-concept is a specific feature of BPD. Implications for future research, psychological assessment, and psychotherapeutic treatment are discussed.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) has been recognized as a serious mental disorder that is highly prevalent within the population and in inpatient samples (Torgersen, Kringlen, & Cramer, 2001). According to theory, patients with BPD are believed to evaluate themselves in an extreme, incoherent and simplistic manner (Kernberg, 1975). Although several authors (e.g., Kernberg, 1975, Linehan, 1993 and Linehan et al., 1993) proposed theories describing self-concept disturbances in BPD, the precise nature of the self-concept in BPD has, as of yet, received relatively little empirical attention. This study aimed to close this research gap by utilizing assessment tools and theoretical models of the self from personality and social psychology and applying them to clinical research on BPD.