http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12904/122 2026-03-10T15:20:10Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12904/19716 The relationship between emotional impulsivity (Urgency), aggression, and symptom dimensions in patients with borderline personality disorder Martin, Sylvia; Del Monte, Jonathan; Howard, Richard C BACKGROUND: A hallmark of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a disposition to anger, irritability and aggression. High impulsivity, particularly high emotional impulsivity (urgency), has been associated with aggression in BPD patients. AIMS: This study aimed to explore, in a sample of patients with BPD, the subtleties of the relationship between borderline symptomatology, different facets of impulsivity, and an aggressive disposition. METHODS: Two hundred and twenty patients with a DSM-5 (Sect. 2) diagnosis of BPD were assessed on measures of impulsivity (UPPS model), aggression (Brief Aggression Questionnaire, BAQ-12) and borderline symptoms (Borderline Personality Questionnaire, BPQ). RESULTS: Results showed: (i) there was a close relationship between BPD symptomatology and an aggressive predisposition measured by BAQ-12; (ii) emptiness and intense anger were the BPD symptom dimensions most significantly associated with aggression (iii) both negative and positive urgency, and to a lesser extent lack of premeditation and sensation seeking, mediated the relationship between borderline symptom dimensions and aggression. DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION: Results suggest a close relationship between almost all dimensions of BPD, but especially anger, and impulsive aggression. They further suggest that urgency, particularly negative urgency, mediates this relationship. Future studies will need to parse aggression into motivationally distinct types. © The Author(s) 2025, corrected publication 2025. 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To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecom mons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12904/19668 Exploring barriers to compassionate acts in individuals with borderline personality disorder : a critical literature review Street-Mattox, Catrin; Broome, Matthew R; Maji, Sucharita; Ng, Fiona; Griffiths, Lowri; Jordan, Gerald This critical literature review explores the barriers that individuals with borderline personality disorder face when engaging in compassionate acts, including self-compassion, receiving compassion from others and expressing compassion towards others. Borderline personality disorder is characterised by emotional instability, impulsive behaviours and difficulties in maintaining stable relationships. Although compassionate acts are known to enhance recovery and well-being, individuals with borderline personality disorder often struggle with these behaviours. This review identifies several key barriers, including adverse childhood experiences, stigma and systemic discrimination, known as sanism, and internal challenges such as self-judgement, shame and fear of compassion. By synthesising findings from 29 studies, this review highlights the complex interplay between these factors and their impact on the ability of individuals with borderline personality disorder to engage in compassionate behaviours. The findings emphasise the need for personalised, trauma-informed therapeutic interventions and broader societal changes to foster a more compassionate environment for individuals with borderline personality disorder. Future research should focus on longitudinal studies, inclusion of individuals with lived experiences and exploring diverse sources of compassion to enhance understanding and support recovery in this population. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2025 The Author(s). Personality and Mental Health Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12904/19659 A comparison of the family and childhood backgrounds of hospitalised offenders with schizophrenia or personality disorder Gibbons, Simon; Ferriter, Michael; Duggan, Conor Previous studies have demonstrated high levels of childhood adversity and familial criminality in offender patients with schizophrenia and/or personality disorder, but few have directly compared these groups. Aims?To compare the parenting histories of offender patients with schizophrenia with those with personality disorder. We hypothesised that rates of family criminality and experiences of disrupted parenting would be higher in the personality disorder group than the schizophrenia group. Method?A retrospective case-control methodology compared the family background and childhood experiences of patients with either schizophrenia or personality disorder (n = 3088) admitted to any of the English high-security hospitals. Results?Compared with those with schizophrenia, patients with personality disorder had experienced higher rates of family criminality, parental separation, and multiple changes of caregiver and institutional care. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of family psychiatric history between the groups. Discussion?Although our hypotheses were sustained, we were impressed that rates of disruption to parenting were high in the schizophrenia group as well as in the personality disorder group. Less than a third of the personality disorder group had survived childhood without a change in parenting, but this was true for about half of the schizophrenia group, too. Family work tailored for people with schizophrenia is needed, even though within personality disorder services, a greater demand for disorder-sensitive family work is likely to be encountered. Copyright ? 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12904/19258 Unified protocol vs mentalization-based therapy for adolescents with borderline personality disorder: A randomized controlled trial Howard, Richard C. BACKGROUND: Despite several treatments, e.g., mentalization-based therapy (MBT) and Unified Protocol (UP), being adapted to treat adolescents with borderline personality disorder (BPD), there exists a dearth of literature regarding their relative efficacy. In this study modified forms of MBT and UP - MBT-A and UP-A respectively-were compared in their ability to reduce borderline symptoms in a sample of 91 Iranian adolescents (two-thirds female) with a BPD diagnosis. METHODS: Individuals randomly allocated to one of two treatment groups, MBT-A (N = 45) or UP-A (N = 46) were followed up across 36 months following treatment. A MIXED ANCOVA was applied to compare the effectiveness of these interventions in reducing severity of borderline symptoms (the primary outcome), impulsivity, self-harm, emotion dysregulation and anger (secondary outcomes). The trial was retrospectively registered at IRCT20231106059970N1. RESULTS: Both primary outcomes and secondary outcomes decreased significantly following both MBT-A and UP-A. In comparison with MBT-A, UP-A was more effective in reducing emotional dysregulation, but levels of remission declined progressively up to 36 months of follow-up following both treatments. CONCLUSIONS: UP-A appears to be more effective than MBT-A in reducing emotional dysregulation in adolescents with BPD, despite being a shorter and less intensive treatment. An important caveat is that the treatment induced changes were largely limited to the emotion dysregulation aspect of BPD; other aspects (interpersonal and identity disturbances) were largely unchanged by either treatment. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z