Undifferentiated negative affect and impulsivity in borderline personality and depressive disorders: A momentary perspective.

Abstract

Individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) often report experiencing several negative emotions simultaneously, an indicator of “undifferentiated” negative affect. The current study examined the relationship between undifferentiated negative affect and impulsivity. Participants with a current BPD (n = 67) or depressive disorder (DD; n = 38) diagnosis carried an electronic diary for 28 days, reporting on emotions and impulsivity when randomly prompted (up to 6 times per day). Undifferentiated negative affect was quantified using momentary intraclass correlation coefficients, which indicated how consistently negative emotion items were rated across fear, hostility, and sadness subscales. Undifferentiated negative affect at the occasion-level, day-level, and across 28 days was used to predict occasion-level impulsivity. Multilevel modeling was used to test the hypothesis that undifferentiated negative emotion would be a significant predictor of momentary impulsivity above and beyond levels of overall negative affect. Undifferentiated negative affect at the occasion and day levels were significant predictors of occasion-level impulsivity, but undifferentiated negative affect across the 28-day study period was only marginally significant. Results did not differ depending on BPD or DD status, though BPD individuals did report significantly greater momentary impulsivity and undifferentiated negative affect. Undifferentiated negative affect may increase risk for impulsivity among individuals with BPD and depressive disorders, and the current data suggest that this process can be relatively immediate as well as cumulative over the course of a day. This research supports the consideration of undifferentiated negative affect as a transdiagnostic construct, but one that may be particularly relevant for those with BPD.

Inter- and intra-individual variation in emotional complexity: methodological considerations and theoretical implications

“…More granular emotional experiences suggest a greater ability to make subtle distinctions among emotional states [e.g., fear, sadness, anger; 29] as they are experienced. Estimates of between-person granularity generated from diary and ecological momentary assessment data show consistent relations between low emotional granularity (particularly of negative emotions) and a wide range of psychopathologies, including borderline personality, social anxiety, and major depressive disorder [30–32]. Other research has similarly established an association between high granularity in positive emotions and adaptive coping and adjustment [e.g., 33].…”

Ambulatory Assessment of Borderline Personality Disorder

“…First, a number of AA studies have examined affective instability/emotion dysregulation in individuals with BPD . Findings across studies indicate that: (a) compared to healthy controls, those with BPD have higher levels of negative affect, lower levels of positive affect, and more instability of negative affect [6]; (b) compared to those with other disorders (e.g., mood, anxiety), those with BPD have similar mean levels of negative affect and positive affect, but more instability of negative affect [7]; (c) types of comorbidity have different implications for negative affective instability (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder vs. major depressive disorder) [8], and (d) those with BPD tend to have higher levels of undifferentiated negative affect (i.e., a combination of negative affects) than those with depressive disorders [9]. …”

“…Results indicate that: (a) it is possible to assess aspects of impulsivity in daily life, including urges and behaviors in daily life [10]; (b) impulsivity seems to be associated with experiences of undifferentiated affect [9], and (c) individuals with BPD tend to crave substances and use substances in less socially determined situations like at work than do community drinkers [11]. …”

The convergence and divergence of impulsivity facets in daily life

“…ESM assesses participants in their normal daily environment, thereby increasing ecological validity; repeatedly assesses participants in the moment, thereby decreasing retrospective bias; and allows for the examination of context of experience. Several studies have employed ESM to examine associations of impulsivity with psychopathology in daily life, including nonsuicidal self‐injury (Bresin, Carter, & Gordon, ), disordered eating (Engel et al, ; Myers et al, ; Steiger, Lehoux, & Gauvin, ), alcohol use (Simons, Dvorak, Batien, & Wray, ; Simons, Gaher, Oliver, Bush, & Palmer, ), bipolar disorder (Depp et al, ), attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (Rosen & Factor, ), and borderline personality disorder (Tomko et al, ). Sperry, Lynam, Walsh, Brown, and Kwapil () examined the original UPPS model and found that, in general, facets were differentially expressed in daily life.…”