Abstract
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by intensity and sensitivity of negative emotion (emotion dysregulation) as well as various dysregulated behaviors, including self-injury, suicide attempts, binge eating, and substance use. The emotional cascade model of BPD (Selby & Joiner, 2009) suggests that the turbulent emotional experience of those with BPD is the result of emotional cascades, vicious cycles of increasing rumination and negative emotion. Dysregulated behaviors, then, may serve as potent methods of distraction from rumination due to the salient physical sensations these behaviors provide (e.g., pain from self-injury). Although this model has received correlational and experimental support (Selby et al., 2009), additional research on the real-time processes of rumination and emotion, and how they relate to dysregulated behaviors, is needed. The following study used experience sampling methodology wherein individuals endorsing recent behavioral dysregulation (some with diagnoses of BPD) were signaled randomly 5 times each day for two weeks using palm pilots, at which times they recorded their thought processes, emotional experience, recent interpersonal events and dysregulated behaviors. Participants completed a total of 3,118 scheduled random assessments over monitoring. Using various forms of hierarchical linear modeling, the results of the study supported the Emotional Cascade Model using real-world data. Importantly, the data indicated that high levels of rumination have an exponential effect on predicting future engagement in dysregulated behaviors, especially for those with BPD. The results of this study provide important support for the emotional cascade model and suggest that it is a theory with important clinical implications.
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