5 - IDENTITY & SELF-CONCEPT

• Rüsch et al. (2007). Shame and implicit self-concept in women with BPD

  Rüsch et al. (2011). Disgust and implicit self-concept in women with BPD
• Wilner et al. (2024). Self-hatred: the unaddressed symptom of BPD

  • Individuals with BPD often report chronic, severe self-hatred
  • Self-hatred remains poorly understood
• Wilkinson-Ryan & Westen (2000). Identity disturbance in BPD.

  • Identity disturbance in BPD is multifaceted
  • Study identified four identity disturbance factors:

  1. Role absorption
  2. Painful incoherence
  3. Inconsistency
  4. Lack of commitment

  • All four factors, but particularly painful coherence, distinguished patients with BPD
  • Painful coherence: this factor conveys distress or concern about identity incoherence or lack of a coherence sense of self. - i.e. a dysphoric state
• Festinger (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance

  • Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors.
  • This produces a feeling of psychological discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance.
• Dempsey, Fedorowicz, & Wood (2023). Role of perceived social norms in NSSI and suicidality.

  • Conformity to restrictive, perceived, social norms may be related to poorer suicide and NSSI outcomes
• van Schie, Whiting, & Grenyer (2024). How negative self-views may interfere with building positive relationships

  • Social feedback task - negative, intermediate and positive evaluations
  • Negative self-viewers reported lower mood in response to positive feedback
  • Improved mood in positive self-viewers when receiving feedback congruent with their self-views
  • Crucially, negative self-viewers felt lower desire to affiliate with who gave predominantly positive feedback
  • Clinical implications for the therapeutic alliance
  • Overly positive affirmations may be counterproductive
• Hillman, Fowlie & MacDonald (2023). Social Verification Theory: A New Way to Conceptualize Validation, Dissonance & Belonging

  
  

  
  

  Invalidation is an experience where one’s inner state (e.g., emotion) is communicated to be incorrect by another.

  • Parental invalidation role in emergence of BPD
  • BPD characterised chronic invalidation

  Crucially, validation and dissonance conceptualised together

  • Validation / affirmation /distancing (behaviours) used to mitigate inconsistencies
  • When they can not be implemented successful, people experience chronic invalidation