Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotional Regulation Difficulty

In this study, it was aimed at evaluating the importance of emotional regulation difficulty in the ethiology of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and related current research as well as emotion focused therapy approaches regarding the treatment of BPD. Emotional regulation and the improvement of emotional regulation have become one of the main topics in BPD research in recent years. The concept of ‘emotional regulation difficulty’ is known to have many different sub-themes and to be related to BPD symptomatology. In order to cure emotional regulation difficulties, the term of ‘emotional regulation' (ER) is defined as a series of strategies aimed at changing an emotional experience. In recent years, ER has gained more attention as a central mechanism in the development, expression and maintenance of psychopathology, and ER's research area has been developing with many sub-concepts such as emotional regulation choices and emotion goals. It seems that ER strategies, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Unified Protocol (UP), which are based on ER strategies, come to the fore in the treatment process of BPD's emotional regulation difficulties; however, it is understood that more systematic research is needed for their effectiveness and development. As the premises of the development of emotional regulation difficulties and BPD have increasingly been clear, prevention and treatment efforts are seen promising in reducing long-term problems, functional impairment, and serious social costs associated with BPD.

Keywords

Clinical Psychology, Borderline Personality Disorder, Emotional Regulation, Emotional Regulation Difficulty, Etiology