A network analysis of borderline personality disorder symptoms and disordered eating

The current study used network analysis to explore associations between specific groupings of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and eating disorder (ED) symptoms, and other transdiagnostic variables including insecure attachment, rejection sensitivity, emotion dysregulation, a theory of mind, and emotion recognition.

Network analysis was undertaken on self-report data from 753 adults (81.5% women), of whom 109 reported a lifetime ED diagnosis.

Comorbidity between BPD and ED symptoms was only partially conceptualized through the transdiagnostic variables. The centrality indices from the network analysis indicated that emotion dysregulation and abandonment were the most central elements in the network. Conversely, the theory of mind and emotion recognition had very few connections with the other transdiagnostic variables in the network.

The findings provide empirical insight into the nature of the observed co-occurrence between BPD and ED symptoms and serve to improve clinical decision-making regarding psychological interventions for both problem sets.