Treating emotion dysregulation in patients with borderline personality disorder using imagery rescripting: A...

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Psychotherapy Research

Background:

• Emotionally Dysregulated Behavior (EDB) is linked to emotion dysregulation and mental imagery in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).
• EDB and emotion dysregulation are core features of BPD, necessitating targeted interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of imagery rescripting (IR) for treating emotion dysregulation and EDB in BPD patients.
• To evaluate IR's impact on emotion regulation, borderline symptomatology, impulsivity, and depressiveness.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involving 48 female BPD patients allocated to IR or treatment-as-usual (TAU).
• Assessments included emotion regulation, borderline symptomatology, EDB, depressiveness, impulsivity, and mental imagery pre- and post-treatment.
• Intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses were performed.

Main Results:

• The IR group showed reduced maladaptive and increased adaptive emotion regulation strategies.
• Immediate improvement in borderline symptomatology was observed in the IR group.
• The IR group demonstrated significant improvements in impulsivity, depressiveness, and EDB compared to the TAU group.

Conclusions:

• Imagery rescripting is an effective intervention for improving core BPD symptoms.
• IR demonstrates efficacy in enhancing emotion regulation and reducing EDB, impulsivity, and depressiveness in BPD.
• Imagery rescripting may be a valuable addition to routine clinical practice for BPD patients experiencing EDB-related imagery.