Emotional intelligence, alexithymia and borderline personality disorder traits in young adults

Abstract

Background A relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) has recently been identifi ed. EI has also been found to overlap considerably with alexithymia, a construct associated with emotion processing and emotion regulation. EI and alexithymia may further our understanding of the relationship between emotion processing, emotion regulation and BPD. Aims We examined the relationships between EI, alexithymia and BPD traits, hypothesizing that EI and alexithymia would correlate negatively with each other, that EI would correlate negatively with BPD traits and that alexithymia would correlate positively with BPD traits. We also hypothesized that low EI and high alexithymia would predict BPD traits. Method A sample of 134 male and female university students completed the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory: Short (EQ-i:S), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Personality Assessment Inventory-Borderline Scale (PAI-BOR). Relationships were examined using correlation and multiple regression. Results The EQ-i:S and the TAS-20 correlated moderately with each other. None of the EQ-i:S scales predicted PAI-BOR. The TAS-20 total signifi cantly predicted PAI-BOR. Conclusions The relationship between alexithymia and BPD suggest that diffi culty identifying, differentiating, understanding and communicating emotions and feelings (somatic sensations) impairs ability to regulate emotions. It may be that an inability to discriminate emotions and somatic sensations explains why people with BPD who are distressed use deliberate self-harm as a means to emotion regulation.

Personal and parents’ life stories in patients with borderline personality disorder

“…For example, they display poorer reflective functioning on the Adult Attachment Interview (Fischer‐Kern, Buchheim, Hörz et al ., ; Fonagy, Leigh, Steele et al ., ; Levy, Meehan, Kelly et al ., ). Studies also show that patients with BPD have disturbed identity (Jørgensen, ; Jørgensen, Berntsen, Bech, Kjølbye, Bennedsen & Ramsgaard, ; Wilkinson‐Ryan & Westen, ) and high alexithymia, which refers to difficulties recognizing and describing personal emotional states (Domes, Grabe, Czieschnek, Heinrichs & Herpertz, ; Joyce, Fujiwara, Cristall, Ruddy & Ogrodniczuk, ; Webb & McMurran, ; Zlotnick, Mattia & Zimmerman, ). Other studies show that BPD is associated with lower empathy (Davis, ; Dziobek, Preißler, Grozdanovic, Heuser, Heekeren & Roepke, ; Eisenberg, Fabes, Murphy et al ., ; Harari, Shamay‐Tsoory, Ravid & Levkovitz, ; Jeung & Herpertz, ; New, Rot, Ripoll et al ., ; Ritter, Dziobek, Preißler et al ., ).…”

Emotional Constriction and Risk for Posttraumatic Stress: The Roles of Trauma History and Gender

“…as greater risk for adverse mental health outcomes that span mood, anxiety, personality, and other psychiatric disorders (Saarijarvi, Salminen, & Toikka, 2006;Simeon, Giesbrecht, Knutelska, Smith, & Smith, 2009;Speranza, Loas, Wallier, & Corcos, 2007;Webb & McMurran, 2008). In particular, alexithymia has been consistently linked to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as emotional inhibition is a core feature of PTSD (Evren, Dalbudak, Cetin, Durkaya, & Evren, 2010;Spitzer, Vogel, Barnow, Freyberger, & Joergen Grabe, 2007).…”

The association between alexithymia, emotional intelligence and burnout among nursing assistants working in nursing home settings: A cross‐sectional study

“…The latter ability is more closely related to emotional clarity than to attention to emotions, supporting the idea that alexithymia and emotional intelligence are independent constructs (Aradilla-Herrero, Tomás-Sábado, & Gómez-Benito, 2014). This conclusion is reinforced by studies that have examined the explanatory power of alexithymia and emotional intelligence and which have found that not only do these two constructs contribute to the explanation of different variables but also that they themselves are explained by different variables (Baughman, Schermer, Veselka, Harris, & Vernon, 2013;Grieve & Mahar, 2010;Webb & McMurran, 2008). In the only study found that analyzes the combined explanatory power of emotional intelligence and alexithymia over stress in undergraduates, it was found that emotional intelligence explains stress better than alexithymia (Mikolajczak, Luminet, & Menil, 2006).…”