Schulze Anna, Rommelfanger Berit, Schendel Elisabeth, Schott Hannah, Lerchl Aimée, Vonderlin Ruben, Lis Stefanie
Department of Clinical Psychology, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Borderline Personal Disord Emot Dysregul. 2024 Aug 23;11(1):19. doi: 10.1186/s40479-024-00263-2.
Attributions are the processes by which individuals explain the causes of positive and negative events. A maladaptive attributional style has been associated with reduced self-esteem, psychosocial functioning, and mental health. Although many psychosocial interventions target an individual's attributional style in mental disorders, studies of its alterations in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) are sparse. This study aimed to investigate the attributional style in patients with BPD in comparison to healthy control individuals (HC) and its association with self-esteem and psychosocial functioning.
The participants (32 patients with a diagnosis of BPD, 32 HC, groups were balanced for sex, age and education) assessed their attributional style in regard to locus of control, stability and globality for positive and negative scenarios. Attributional style was compared between groups and linked to self-reports of self-esteem, loneliness and psychosocial functioning in different social domains while controlling for BPD and depressive symptom severity.
Individuals diagnosed with BPD reported a maladaptive attributional style for both positive and negative events. This was found to be strongly related with lower self-esteem and higher levels of loneliness, but not with psychosocial dysfunctions assessed in different social domains. The severity of BPD and depressive symptoms did not fully explain the association of attributional style with self-esteem and loneliness. In contrast, correcting for acute psychopathology actually strengthened the relationship between self-esteem and maladaptive inferring causality for positive events.
The differential association of attributional style for positive and negative events with self-esteem and psychosocial functioning highlights the importance of considering the different facets of inferring causality during psychosocial interventions. Our findings suggest that the significance of cognitive alterations may change with remission of acute BPD and depressive psychopathology, depending on the valence of an event.
归因是个体解释积极和消极事件原因的过程。适应不良的归因方式与自尊降低、心理社会功能和心理健康有关。尽管许多心理社会干预针对精神障碍患者的归因方式，但关于边缘型人格障碍（BPD）患者归因方式改变的研究却很少。本研究旨在调查BPD患者与健康对照个体（HC）相比的归因方式，以及其与自尊和心理社会功能的关系。
参与者（32名诊断为BPD的患者，32名HC，两组在性别、年龄和教育程度上均衡）评估了他们在积极和消极情景下关于控制点、稳定性和普遍性的归因方式。比较两组之间的归因方式，并将其与自尊、孤独感以及不同社会领域心理社会功能的自我报告联系起来，同时控制BPD和抑郁症状的严重程度。
被诊断为BPD的个体对积极和消极事件均报告了适应不良的归因方式。这被发现与较低的自尊和较高的孤独感密切相关，但与不同社会领域评估的心理社会功能障碍无关。BPD和抑郁症状的严重程度并不能完全解释归因方式与自尊和孤独感之间的关联。相反，校正急性精神病理学实际上加强了自尊与对积极事件进行适应不良因果推断之间的关系。
积极和消极事件的归因方式与自尊和心理社会功能的差异关联凸显了在心理社会干预过程中考虑因果推断不同方面的重要性。我们的研究结果表明，认知改变的重要性可能会随着急性BPD和抑郁性精神病理学的缓解而改变，这取决于事件的效价。
