Borderline personality and emotional reactivity to theoretical media events: A pilot study

Objective. The purpose of this study was to determine if patients with borderline personality emotionally react any differently than controls to theoretical media events of different valences. Methods. In this cross-sectional sample of convenience, we examined among 70 primary care patients the relationship between borderline personality disorder, according to two diagnostic measures (the borderline personality scale of the Personality Diagnostic Questionaire-4 and the Self-Harm Inventory), and emotional reactions to three types of theoretical media events - positive, negative, and neutral events. Results. Participants with versus without borderline personality evidenced no emotional differences to the various media events according to the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4. However, according to the Self-Harm Inventory, participants with borderline personality symptomatology were more likely to rate neutral events with greater emotional intensity, but not positive or negative events. Conclusions. These findings suggest that patients with borderline personality may tend to respond more dramatically to ambiguous stimuli, such as neutral environmental events. We discuss the potential implications of these findings.