Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2023 Jun;53(3):362-371. doi: 10.1111/sltb.12949. Epub 2023 Feb 17.
Suicide and self-injury (SSI) are pervasive among individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD), yet little research has examined factors that increase SSI urges among those with BPD. Emptiness is a diagnostic criterion of BPD that is associated with SSI behaviors, but its impact on SSI urges in BPD is poorly understood. This study investigates the association between emptiness and SSI urges at baseline and in response to a stressor (i.e., reactivity) among individuals with BPD.
Forty individuals with BPD participated in an experimental procedure where they rated their degree of emptiness and SSI urges at baseline and in response to an interpersonal stressor. Generalized estimating equations tested whether emptiness predicts baseline SSI urges and SSI urge reactivity.
Higher emptiness predicted higher baseline suicide urges (B = 0.006, SE = 0.002, p < 0.001), but not baseline self-injury urges (p = 0.081). Emptiness did not significantly predict suicide urge reactivity (p = 0.731) nor self-injury urge reactivity (p = 0.446).
Assessing and targeting emptiness may facilitate the reduction of suicide urges in BPD. Future research should investigate treatment strategies for reducing SSI risk among individuals with BPD via targeting emptiness.
自杀和自残（SSI）在边缘型人格障碍（BPD）患者中普遍存在，但很少有研究探讨哪些因素会增加 BPD 患者的 SSI 冲动。空虚感是 BPD 的一个诊断标准，与 SSI 行为有关，但人们对其在 BPD 中对 SSI 冲动的影响知之甚少。本研究调查了 BPD 患者在基线时和对压力源（即反应性）时的空虚感与 SSI 冲动之间的关系。
40 名 BPD 患者参与了一项实验程序，他们在基线时和对人际压力源做出反应时，对自己的空虚感和 SSI 冲动程度进行了评估。广义估计方程检验了空虚感是否能预测基线时的 SSI 冲动和 SSI 冲动反应性。
更高的空虚感预测了更高的基线自杀冲动（B=0.006，SE=0.002，p<0.001），但不能预测基线自残冲动（p=0.081）。空虚感对自杀冲动反应性（p=0.731）和自残冲动反应性（p=0.446）均无显著预测作用。
评估和针对空虚感可能有助于减少 BPD 患者的自杀冲动。未来的研究应该通过针对空虚感来探讨针对 BPD 患者减少 SSI 风险的治疗策略。
