The Impact of Self-Reported Childhood Trauma on Emotion Regulation in Borderline Personality Disorder and Major Depression

Abstract

Early life stress is said to play a critical role in the development of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and major depressive disorder (MDD), but the underlying mediating factors remain uncertain. This study aimed to investigate self-reported childhood trauma, emotion regulation difficulties, and their associations in a sample of BPD (n = 49) and MDD (n = 48) patients and healthy control participants (n = 63). Multiple regressions were used to evaluate the impact of the quality and severity of self-reported childhood trauma on self-reported emotion regulation. The results supported an association between self-reported maltreatment experiences, especially emotional abuse and neglect, and emotion regulation difficulties. Additional analyses showed that emotion regulation difficulties influence the association between self-reported emotional abuse and acute symptomatology in the BPD subgroup. Emotion regulation difficulties may be 1 pathway through which early life stress, particularly emotional abuse, increases the risk for developing BPD symptomatology.

A Risk Algorithm for the Persistence of Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors During College

“…This was especially the case for having arguments with family or friends, a risk factor ranking highest as precipitating event for suicide attempts. 59 When integrating these findings with existing research, one potential hypothesis is that earlier traumatic experiences initiate childhood-adolescent STB, 60 but also heightened levels of affective-behavioral dysregulation, 61 and interpersonal stress sensitivity. 62 These traits, in turn, may be predictive for persistent STB into young adulthood, relatively independent from the earlier trauma that initiated them.…”

Sexuality‐related issues in borderline personality disorder: A comprehensive review

“…type of sample and assessment instrument for childhood traumas), CSA has been consistently associated with BPD. Regarding this issue, current empirical evidence also indicates that emotional dysregulation mediates the association between childhood trauma (including CSA) and BPD (Carvalho‐Fernando et al, ; Kuo, Khoury, Metcalfe, Fitzpatrick, & Goodwill, ). In fact, several studies reveal that childhood trauma leads to altered amygdala–prefrontal cortex connectivity, which in turn plays a role in emotional reactivity typically displayed in either borderline or post‐traumatic patients (Krause‐Utz et al, ; Thomason et al, ).…”

Anxious adult attachment may mediate the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and borderline personality disorder

“…Some studies indicate that dissociation may mediate the relationship between childhood trauma and BPD (Simeon, Nelson, Elias, Greenberg, & Hollander, 2003). Others suggest that this association may be accounted for by emotion regulation (Carvalho-Fernando et al, 2014;Kuo, Khoury, Metcalfe, Fitzpatrick, & Goodwill, 2015). Also, reduced plasma oxytocin levels have been proven a partial mediator between emotional neglect/abuse and BPD (Bertsch, Schmidinger, Neumann, & Herpertz, 2013).…”