Parent-child relationship associated with the development of borderline personality disorder: A systematic review.

The parent-child relationship (PCR) is considered as a central factor in most contemporary theories on the aetiology of borderline personality disorder (BPD). This systematic review aimed to answer the three following questions: (1) How is the PCR described by BPD participants and their parents in comparison to other normative and clinical groups? (2) Which aspects of the PCR are specifically associated with a BPD diagnosis in adulthood? (3) How can the facets of the PCR identified in the reviewed studies shed light on the general aetiological models of BPD? Forty studies were retained and divided into three categories: perspective of BPD probands, perspective of their parents and perspective of family. Borderline personality disorder participants consistently reported a much more dysfunctional PCR compared to normal controls.

Networks of self-defining memories as a contributing factor to emotional openness.

Emotional openness is characterised by a capacity to tolerate threatening self-relevant material and an interest towards new emotional situations. We investigated how specific networks of memories could be an important contributing factor to emotional openness. At Phase 1, participants completed measures of personality traits and emotional intelligence, described a self-defining memory, provided other memories associated with it, and rated the valence of each of their memories.

What does sadness mean to BPD patients?

Dysphoria is a core feature of Borderline Personality Disorder. Although a few studies have examined the nature of dysphoria in those patients, no research has focused on their experience of sadness. Considering the adaptive value of this emotion, an understanding of how BPD patients experience sadness is relevant to treatment.

The role of episodic memories in current and future well-being.

The purpose of the present research was to examine the automatic role of psychological need satisfaction in episodic memories and in their associated networked memories on people's sense of well-being. In each of four studies, participants were asked to describe a main episodic memory and networked memories, that is, other memories related to their main episodic memory. Results of Studies 1 and 2 revealed that levels of need satisfaction in a main episodic memory and in its networked memories both uniquely contributed to the prediction of well-being (based on either participants' or peers' ratings).

The role of autobiographical memory networks in the experience of negative emotions: how our remembered past elicits our current feelings.

The present research examined the role of autobiographical memory networks on negative emotional experiences. Results from 2 studies found support for an active but also discriminant role of autobiographical memories and their related networked memories on negative emotions. In addition, in line with self-determination theory, thwarting of the psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness was found to be the critical component of autobiographical memory affecting negative emotional experiences.

The role of attachment avoidance in extradyadic sex.

The purposes of the present research were to examine the relationship between attachment and extradyadic sex and to investigate a mediator of this relationship. Study 1 showed that attachment avoidance was positively associated with extradyadic sex, while attachment anxiety was unrelated to it. These results were maintained after controlling for sexual satisfaction, sexual desire, gender, and age.

Verbal elaboration of distinct affect categories and BPD symptoms.

Objectives: The present study explores the relationship between the mentalization of distinct affect categories and the severity of borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms. Mentalization is assessed by both the level of verbal elaboration (VE) achieved by discrete affects (explicit mentalization) and the proportion of these individual affects in verbal expression (implicit mentalization).

Design And Methods: Sixty-four outpatients completed a series of questionnaires and took part in an interview designed to produce eight relationship episodes that involved four basic emotions: sadness, joy, anger, and fear (two of each).

The role of need satisfaction as a distinct and basic psychological component of autobiographical memories: a look at well-being.

The purpose of the present research was to show that satisfaction of the psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness constitutes a basic component characterizing autobiographical memories. In Study 1, a coding scheme and a self-rating method for measuring need satisfaction in memories were developed and shown to be highly related to each other. Across 3 studies using graduate and undergraduate students (Study 1: N=244; Study 2: N=309; Study 3: N=159), need satisfaction was found to be moderately associated with well-being measures, over and above several other memory components usually assessed in research on autobiographical memories.

French adaptation of the eating disorder recovery self-efficacy questionnaire (EDRSQ): psychometric properties and conceptual overview.

High prevalence of Eating Disorders (EDs) and poor treatment outcome rates have urged research in the assessment of EDs. Self-efficacy is a key motivational factor in the recovery from EDs. A self-report measure, the Eating Disorder Recovery Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (EDRSQ), was recently developed to assess confidence in adopting healthy eating behaviours and in maintaining a realistic body image.

Gender differences in self-reported defense mechanisms: a study using the new Defense Style Questionnaire-60.

Studies have shown that men and women differ in their use of defense mechanisms (e.g. Cramer, 1991; Watson and Sinha, 1998).

Resilience and positive emotions: examining the role of emotional memories.

Resilience has been frequently associated with positive emotions, especially when experienced during taxing events. However, the psychological processes that might allow resilient individuals to self-generate those positive emotions have been mostly overlooked. In line with recent advances in memory research, we propose that emotional memories play an important role in the self-generation of positive emotions.

Assessing verbal elaboration of affect in clinical interviews: exploring sex differences.

Recent interest in the transformative impact of reflective mechanisms on affect regulation has led to a focus on forms of "mentalized affectivity." This article aims at describing a method for assessing affect mentalization as it appears in verbal data. The method will be illustrated by a preliminary exploration of sex differences in the verbal expression of affect in a clinical setting.

Supportive interventions and nonsymbolic mental functioning.

The author aims to show how supportive interventions are the analyst's most relevant therapeutic means to helping patients with a feeble symbolic system transform nonsymbolic episodes and reestablish symbolic mental functioning. Symbolic and nonsymbolic modes of mental functioning are first outlined. Supportive interventions are redefined as an analyst's effort at improving a patient's nonsymbolic mental functioning, by using principally pragmatic or interactive aspects of communication to deal with her or his patient's nonsymbolic in-session experiences.

Inhibition and object relations in borderline personality traits after traumatic brain injury.

This study aims to assess the nature and severity of borderline traits after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Thirty subjects with moderate or severe TBI were compared to 30 normal controls on the Revised Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines (DIB-R), a dimensional measure of borderline traits, the Go-no go inhibition task, the Complexity of Representations of People and Affect-Tone Relationships Paradigms, two scales from the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale (SCORS) evaluating the quality of object relations, an estimation of pre-morbid borderline severity, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and various neuropsychological measures. Results indicate that TBIs present more borderline symptoms and traits than controls.

Analyzing forms of superego functioning as mentalizations.

The concept of mentalization seeks to understand the transformation processes of physical quantity into psychical quality through the emergence, development and organization of mental representations. Often discussed in relation to the functioning of both the id and the ego, it is here proposed that the degree of mentalization also determines the level of functioning and maturity of the hostile, self-punitive superego. Luquet's description of four layers of thought (primary mental representations, metaprimary thinking, metaconscious intuitive thinking, conscious verbal thought) serves as a guide to explore issues of the forms of thinking involved in punitive superego activity.