Implicit cognitions on self-injurious and suicidal behavior in borderline personality disorder

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Psychiatry
• Clinical Neuroscience

Background:

• Implicit measures of suicidality correlate with self-harm behaviors.
• Borderline personality disorder (BPD) has a high prevalence of self-harm.
• No prior research examined implicit measures in BPD patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess implicit measures of suicidality and self-harm in patients with BPD.
• To compare implicit measures between BPD patients and healthy controls.
• To explore correlations between implicit measures and psychopathology in BPD.

Main Methods:

• Forty BPD patients and 25 healthy controls completed three implicit association tests (IATs).
• A subliminal priming task was administered.
• Measures of psychopathology including suicidal ideation and self-harm history were collected.

Main Results:

• BPD patients scored higher on all three IATs compared to controls.
• Subliminal priming showed no group differences.
• Correlations between implicit measures and psychopathology were mostly weak, with some exceptions.

Conclusions:

• BPD patients exhibit heightened implicit self-identification with self-harm and death.
• Implicit positive attitudes toward self-harm were stronger in BPD patients.
• The discriminative value of IATs in BPD is questionable due to weak correlations with explicit measures.