Publication
Title
Are emotional action tendencies and attentional bias related to temperament dimensions in patients with borderline personality disorder?
Author
Abstract
Disturbances in emotion regulation have been identified as a core feature of patients with a borderline personality disorder (BPD). Findings of studies using experimental measures of emotion processing are mixed, which may be partially explained by the heterogeneity of the BPD population. To address this issue, we investigated differences in experimental measures of emotional action tendencies (approach-avoidance behaviour) and attentional bias to emotional stimuli in BPD subtypes. Data of the Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT) and the Emotional Stroop Task (EST) were collected in 140 BPD patients, previously clustered into four BPD subtypes based on temperament dimensions. We investigated (1) the relationship between temperament dimensions and the performance on the AAT and EST and (2) compared performance on these tasks in previous defined BPD subtypes. The results of the present study demonstrated a positive relationship between effortful control (EC) and AAT effect-scores. A higher level of EC was positively associated with a general emotional action tendency towards faces with directed gaze, even when controlling for gender, age and BPD severity. Preliminary results on the comparison of the BPD subtypes demonstrated no significant differences in AAT and EST performance. These findings emphasize the relevance of EC in emotional action tendencies in BPD patients.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Psychiatry research. - Amsterdam
Publication
Amsterdam : 2018
ISSN
0165-1781
DOI
10.1016/J.PSYCHRES.2018.03.004
Volume/pages
266 (2018) , p. 247-252
ISI
000437819700035
Pubmed ID
29576411
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Subtypes in the Borderline Personality Disorder, their validation and treatment trajectory.
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 02.08.2018
Last edited 04.03.2024
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