TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2012//
TI  - What Does Sadness Mean to BPD Patients?
JO  - Journal of personality disorders
A1  - Briand-Malenfant, Rachel
A1  - Lecours, Serge
A1  - Deschenaux, Emilie
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - Dysphoria is a core feature of Borderline Personality Disorder. Although a few studies have examined the nature of dysphoria in those patients, no research has focused on their experience of sadness. Considering the adaptive value of this emotion, an understanding of how BPD patients experience sadness is relevant to treatment. We conducted a qualitative analysis of the narratives of seven individuals with a diagnosis of BPD that have participated in a semi-structured interview describing sadness experiences in a relational context. Fourteen episodes were analyzed jointly by two doctoral students following Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis principles. Five themes were found: (1) aggression, (2) relationship broken off by the other, (3) undifferentiated negative affect, (4) self being defective, and (5) overwhelming experience. Surprisingly, sadness in a relational context was not associated with a representation of loss. The results suggest instead that sadness in those episodes is a non-mentalized experience that should not be conceptualized as sadness proper.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0885-579X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1521/pedi_2012_26_047
ID  - ref1
ER  -