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What is Emotional Self-Regulation?

Published on by Andrew Marshall2 Comments

Introduction

Emotional self-regulation or emotion regulation is the ability to respond to the ongoing demands of experience with the range of emotions in a manner that is socially tolerable and sufficiently flexible to permit spontaneous reactions as well as the ability to delay spontaneous reactions as needed. It can also be defined as extrinsic and intrinsic processes responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and modifying emotional reactions. Emotional self-regulation belongs to the broader set of emotion regulation processes, which includes both the regulation of one’s own feelings and the regulation of other people’s feelings.

Emotion regulation is a complex process that involves initiating, inhibiting, or modulating one’s state or behaviour in a given situation – for example, the subjective experience (feelings), cognitive responses (thoughts), emotion-related physiological responses (for example heart rate or hormonal activity), and emotion-related behaviour (bodily actions or expressions). Functionally, emotion regulation can also refer to processes such as the tendency to focus one’s attention to a task and the ability to suppress inappropriate behaviour under instruction. Emotion regulation is a highly significant function in human life.

Every day, people are continually exposed to a wide variety of potentially arousing stimuli. Inappropriate, extreme or unchecked emotional reactions to such stimuli could impede functional fit within society; therefore, people must engage in some form of emotion regulation almost all of the time. Generally speaking, emotion dysregulation has been defined as difficulties in controlling the influence of emotional arousal on the organisation and quality of thoughts, actions, and interactions. Individuals who are emotionally dysregulated exhibit patterns of responding in which there is a mismatch between their goals, responses, and/or modes of expression, and the demands of the social environment. For example, there is a significant association between emotion dysregulation and symptoms of depression, anxiety, eating pathology, and substance abuse. Higher levels of emotion regulation are likely to be related to both high levels of social competence and the expression of socially appropriate emotions.

Theory

Process Model

The process model of emotion regulation is based upon the modal model of emotion. The modal model of emotion suggests that the emotion generation process occurs in a particular sequence over time. This sequence occurs as follows:

  • Situation: the sequence begins with a situation (real or imagined) that is emotionally relevant.
  • Attention: attention is directed towards the emotional situation.
  • Appraisal: the emotional situation is evaluated and interpreted.
  • Response: an emotional response is generated, giving rise to loosely coordinated changes in experiential, behavioural, and physiological response systems.

Because an emotional response (4.) can cause changes to a situation (1.), this model involves a feedback loop from (4.) Response to (1.) Situation. This feedback loop suggests that the emotion generation process can occur recursively, is ongoing, and dynamic.

The process model contends that each of these four points in the emotion generation process can be subjected to regulation. From this conceptualisation, the process model posits five different families of emotion regulation that correspond to the regulation of a particular point in the emotion generation process. They occur in the following order:

  • Situation selection.
  • Situation modification.
  • Attentional deployment.
  • Cognitive change.
  • Response modulation.

The process model also divides these emotion regulation strategies into two categories:

  • Antecedent-focused strategies (i.e. situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, and cognitive change) occur before an emotional response is fully generated.
  • Response-focused strategies (i.e. response modulation) occur after an emotional response is fully generated.

Strategies

Situation Selection

Situation selection involves choosing to avoid or approach an emotionally relevant situation. If a person selects to avoid or disengage from an emotionally relevant situation, he or she is decreasing the likelihood of experiencing an emotion. Alternatively, if a person selects to approach or engage with an emotionally relevant situation, he or she is increasing the likelihood of experiencing an emotion.

Typical examples of situation selection may be seen interpersonally, such as when a parent removes his or her child from an emotionally unpleasant situation. Use of situation selection may also be seen in psychopathology. For example, avoidance of social situations to regulate emotions is particularly pronounced for those with social anxiety disorder and avoidant personality disorder.

Effective situation selection is not always an easy task. For instance, humans display difficulties predicting their emotional responses to future events. Therefore, they may have trouble making accurate and appropriate decisions about which emotionally relevant situations to approach or to avoid.

Situation Modification

Situation modification involves efforts to modify a situation so as to change its emotional impact. Situation modification refers specifically to altering one’s external, physical environment. Altering one’s “internal” environment to regulate emotion is called cognitive change.

Examples of situation modification may include injecting humour into a speech to elicit laughter or extending the physical distance between oneself and another person.

Attentional Deployment

Attentional deployment involves directing one’s attention towards or away from an emotional situation.

Distraction

Distraction, an example of attentional deployment, is an early selection strategy, which involves diverting one’s attention away from an emotional stimulus and towards other content. Distraction has been shown to reduce the intensity of painful and emotional experiences, to decrease facial responding and neural activation in the amygdala associated with emotion, as well as to alleviate emotional distress. As opposed to reappraisal, individuals show a relative preference to engage in distraction when facing stimuli of high negative emotional intensity. This is because distraction easily filters out high-intensity emotional content, which would otherwise be relatively difficult to appraise and process.

Rumination

Rumination, an example of attentional deployment, is defined as the passive and repetitive focusing of one’s attention on one’s symptoms of distress and the causes and consequences of these symptoms. Rumination is generally considered a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy, as it tends to exacerbate emotional distress. It has also been implicated in a host of disorders including major depression.

Worry

Worry, an example of attentional deployment, involves directing attention to thoughts and images concerned with potentially negative events in the future. By focusing on these events, worrying serves to aid in the down-regulation of intense negative emotion and physiological activity. While worry may sometimes involve problem solving, incessant worry is generally considered maladaptive, being a common feature of anxiety disorders, particularly generalised anxiety disorder.

Thought Suppression

Thought suppression, an example of attentional deployment, involves efforts to redirect one’s attention from specific thoughts and mental images to other content so as to modify one’s emotional state. Although thought suppression may provide temporary relief from undesirable thoughts, it may ironically end up spurring the production of even more unwanted thoughts. This strategy is generally considered maladaptive, being most associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Cognitive Change

Cognitive change involves changing how one appraises a situation so as to alter its emotional meaning.

Reappraisal

Reappraisal, an example of cognitive change, is a late selection strategy, which involves a change of the meaning of an event that alters its emotional impact. It encompasses different sub-strategies, such as:

  • Positive reappraisal (creating and focusing on a positive aspect of the stimulus);
  • Decentring (reinterpreting an event by broadening one’s perspective to see “the bigger picture”); or
  • Fictional reappraisal (adopting or emphasizing the belief that event is not real, that it is for instance “just a movie” or “just my imagination”).

Reappraisal has been shown to effectively reduce physiological, subjective, and neural emotional responding. As opposed to distraction, individuals show a relative preference to engage in reappraisal when facing stimuli of low negative emotional intensity because these stimuli are relatively easy to appraise and process.

Reappraisal is generally considered to be an adaptive emotion regulation strategy. Compared to suppression (including both thought suppression and expressive suppression), which is positively correlated with many psychological disorders, reappraisal can be associated with better interpersonal outcomes, and can be positively related to well-being. However, some researchers argue that context is important when evaluating the adaptiveness of a strategy, suggesting that in some contexts reappraisal may be maladaptive. Furthermore, some research has shown reappraisal does not influence affect or physiological responses to recurrent stress.

Distancing

Distancing, an example of cognitive change, involves taking on an independent, third-person perspective when evaluating an emotional event. Distancing has been shown to be an adaptive form of self-reflection, facilitating the emotional processing of negatively valenced stimuli, reducing emotional and cardiovascular reactivity to negative stimuli, and increasing problem-solving behaviour.

Humour

Humour, an example of cognitive change, has been shown to be an effective emotion regulation strategy. Specifically, positive, good-natured humour has been shown to effectively up-regulate positive emotion and down-regulate negative emotion. On the other hand, negative, mean-spirited humour is less effective in this regard.

Response Modulation

Response modulation involves attempts to directly influence experiential, behavioural, and physiological response systems.

Expressive Suppression

Refer to Expressive Suppression.

Expressive suppression, an example of response modulation, involves inhibiting emotional expressions. It has been shown to effectively reduce facial expressivity, subjective feelings of positive emotion, heart rate, and sympathetic activation. However, the research findings are mixed regarding whether this strategy is effective for down-regulating negative emotion. Research has also shown that expressive suppression may have negative social consequences, correlating with reduced personal connections and greater difficulties forming relationships.

Expressive suppression is generally considered to be a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy. Compared to reappraisal, it is positively correlated with many psychological disorders, associated with worse interpersonal outcomes, is negatively related to well-being, and requires the mobilisation of a relatively substantial amount of cognitive resources. However, some researchers argue that context is important when evaluating the adaptiveness of a strategy, suggesting that in some contexts suppression may be adaptive.

Drug Use

Drug use, an example of response modulation, can be used to alter emotion-associated physiological responses. For example, alcohol can produce sedative and anxiolytic effects and beta blockers can affect sympathetic activation.

Exercise

Exercise, an example of response modulation, can be used to down-regulate the physiological and experiential effects of negative emotions. Regular physical activity has also been shown to reduce emotional distress and improve emotional control.

Sleep

Sleep plays a role in emotion regulation, although stress and worry can also interfere with sleep. Studies have shown that sleep, specifically rapid eye movement ((REM) sleep, down-regulates reactivity of the amygdala, a brain structure known to be involved in the processing of emotions, in response to previous emotional experiences. On the flip side, sleep deprivation is associated with greater emotional reactivity or overreaction to negative and stressful stimuli. This is a result of both increased amygdala activity and a disconnect between the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex, which regulates the amygdala through inhibition, together resulting in an overactive emotional brain. Due to the subsequent lack of emotional control, sleep deprivation may be associated with depression, impulsivity, and mood swings. Additionally, there is some evidence that sleep deprivation may reduce emotional reactivity to positive stimuli and events and impair emotion recognition in others.

In Psychotherapy

Emotion regulation strategies are taught, and emotion regulation problems are treated, in a variety of counselling and psychotherapy approaches, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).

For example, a relevant mnemonic formulated in DBT is “ABC PLEASE”:

  • Accumulate positive experiences.
  • Build mastery by being active in activities that make one feel competent and effective to combat helplessness.
  • Cope ahead, preparing an action plan, researching, and rehearsing (with a skilled helper if necessary).
  • Physical illness treatment and prevention through check-ups.
  • Low vulnerability to diseases, managed with health care professionals.
  • Eating healthy.
  • Avoiding (non-prescribed) mood-altering drugs.
  • Sleep healthy.
  • Exercise regularly.

Developmental Process

Infancy

Intrinsic emotion regulation efforts during infancy are believed to be guided primarily by innate physiological response systems. These systems usually manifest as an approach towards and an avoidance of pleasant or unpleasant stimuli. At three months, infants can engage in self-soothing behaviours like sucking and can reflexively respond to and signal feelings of distress. For instance, infants have been observed attempting to suppress anger or sadness by knitting their brow or compressing their lips. Between three and six months, basic motor functioning and attentional mechanisms begin to play a role in emotion regulation, allowing infants to more effectively approach or avoid emotionally relevant situations. Infants may also engage in self-distraction and help-seeking behaviours for regulatory purposes. At one year, infants are able to navigate their surroundings more actively and respond to emotional stimuli with greater flexibility due to improved motor skills. They also begin to appreciate their caregivers’ abilities to provide them regulatory support. For instance, infants generally have difficulties regulating fear. As a result, they often find ways to express fear in ways that attract the comfort and attention of caregivers.

Extrinsic emotion regulation efforts by caregivers, including situation selection, modification, and distraction, are particularly important for infants. The emotion regulation strategies employed by caregivers to attenuate distress or to up-regulate positive affect in infants can impact the infants’ emotional and behavioural development, teaching them particular strategies and methods of regulation. The type of attachment style between caregiver and infant can therefore play a meaningful role in the regulatory strategies infants may learn to use.

Recent evidence supports the idea that maternal singing has a positive effect on affect regulation in infants. Singing play-songs, such as “The Wheels on the Bus” or “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain” have a visible affect-regulatory consequence of prolonged positive affect and even alleviation of distress. In addition to proven facilitation of social bonding, when combined with movement and/or rhythmic touch, maternal singing for affect regulation has possible applications for infants in the NICU and for adult caregivers with serious personality or adjustment difficulties.

Toddler-Hood

By the end of the first year, toddlers begin to adopt new strategies to decrease negative arousal. These strategies can include rocking themselves, chewing on objects, or moving away from things that upset them. At two years, toddlers become more capable of actively employing emotion regulation strategies. They can apply certain emotion regulation tactics to influence various emotional states. Additionally, maturation of brain functioning and language and motor skills permits toddlers to manage their emotional responses and levels of arousal more effectively.

Extrinsic emotion regulation remains important to emotional development in toddlerhood. Toddlers can learn ways from their caregivers to control their emotions and behaviours. For example, caregivers help teach self-regulation methods by distracting children from unpleasant events (like a vaccination shot) or helping them understand frightening events.

Childhood

Emotion regulation knowledge becomes more substantial during childhood. For example, children aged six to ten begin to understand display rules. They come to appreciate the contexts in which certain emotional expressions are socially most appropriate and therefore ought to be regulated. For example, children may understand that upon receiving a gift they should display a smile, irrespective of their actual feelings about the gift. During childhood, there is also a trend towards the use of more cognitive emotion regulation strategies, taking the place of more basic distraction, approach, and avoidance tactics.

Regarding the development of emotion dysregulation in children, one robust finding suggests that children who are frequently exposed to negative emotion at home will be more likely to display, and have difficulties regulating, high levels of negative emotion.

Adolescence

Adolescents show a marked increase in their capacities to regulate their emotions, and emotion regulation decision making becomes more complex, depending on multiple factors. In particular, the significance of interpersonal outcomes increases for adolescents. When regulating their emotions, adolescents are therefore likely to take into account their social context. For instance, adolescents show a tendency to display more emotion if they expect a sympathetic response from their peers.

Additionally, spontaneous use of cognitive emotion regulation strategies increases during adolescence, which is evidenced both by self-report data and neural markers.

Adulthood

Social losses increase and health tends to decrease as people age. As people get older their motivation to seek emotional meaning in life through social ties tends to increase. Autonomic responsiveness decreases with age, and emotion regulation skill tends to increase.

Emotional regulation in adulthood can also be examined in terms of positive and negative affectivity. Positive and negative affectivity refers to the types of emotions felt by an individual as well as the way those emotions are expressed. With adulthood comes an increased ability to maintain both high positive affectivity and low negative affectivity “more rapidly than adolescents.” This response to life’s challenges seems to become “automatised” as people progress throughout adulthood. Thus, as individuals age, their capability of self-regulating emotions and responding to their emotions in healthy ways improves.

Additionally, emotional regulation may vary between young adults and older adults. Younger adults have been found to be more successful than older adults in practicing “cognitive reappraisal” to decrease negative internal emotions. On the other hand, older adults have been found to be more successful in the following emotional regulation areas:

  • Predicting the level of “emotional arousal” in possible situations.
  • Having a higher focus on positive information rather than negative.
  • Maintaining healthy levels of “hedonic well-being” (subjective well-being based on increased pleasure and decreased pain).

Overview of Perspectives

Neuropsychological Perspective

Affective

As people age, their affect – the way they react to emotions – changes, either positively or negatively. Studies show that positive affect increases as a person grows from adolescence to their mid 70s. Negative affect, on the other hand, decreases until the mid 70s. Studies also show that emotions differ in adulthood, particularly affect (positive or negative). Although some studies found that individuals experience less affect as they grow older, other studies have concluded that adults in their middle age experience more positive affect and less negative affect than younger adults. Positive affect was also higher for men than women while the negative affect was higher for women than it was for men and also for single people. A reason that older people – middle adulthood – might have less negative affect is because they have overcome, “the trials and vicissitudes of youth, they may increasingly experience a more pleasant balance of affect, at least up until their mid-70s”. Positive affect might rise during middle age but towards the later years of life – the 70s – it begins to decline while negative affect also does the same. This might be due to failing health, reaching the end of their lives and the death of friends and relatives.

In addition to baseline levels of positive and negative affect, studies have found individual differences in the time-course of emotional responses to stimuli. The temporal dynamics of emotion regulation, also known as affective chronometry, include two key variables in the emotional response process: rise time to peak emotional response, and recovery time to baseline levels of emotion. Studies of affective chronometry typically separate positive and negative affect into distinct categories, as previous research has shown (despite some correlation) the ability of humans to experience changes in these categories independently of one another. Affective chronometry research has been conducted on clinical populations with anxiety, mood, and personality disorders, but is also utilised as a measurement to test the effectiveness of different therapeutic techniques (including mindfulness training) on emotional dysregulation.

Neurological

The development of functional magnetic resonance imaging has allowed for the study of emotion regulation on a biological level. Specifically, research over the last decade strongly suggests that there is a neural basis. Sufficient evidence has correlated emotion regulation to particular patterns of prefrontal activation. These regions include the orbital prefrontal cortex, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Two additional brain structures that have been found to contribute are the amygdala and the anterior cingulate cortex. Each of these structures are involved in various facets of emotion regulation and irregularities in one or more regions and/or interconnections among them are affiliated with failures of emotion regulation. An implication to these findings is that individual differences in prefrontal activation predict the ability to perform various tasks in aspects of emotion regulation.

Sociological

People intuitively mimic facial expressions; it is a fundamental part of healthy functioning. Similarities across cultures in regards to nonverbal communication has prompted the debate that it is in fact a universal language. It can be argued that emotion regulation plays a key role in the ability to generate the correct responses in social situations. Humans have control over facial expressions both consciously and unconsciously: an intrinsic emotion programme is generated as the result of a transaction with the world, which immediately results in an emotional response and usually a facial reaction. It is a well documented phenomenon that emotions have an effect on facial expression, but recent research has provided evidence that the opposite may also be true.

This notion would give rise to the belief that a person may not only control his emotion but in fact influence them as well. Emotion regulation focuses on providing the appropriate emotion in the appropriate circumstances. Some theories allude to the thought that each emotion serves a specific purpose in coordinating organismic needs with environmental demands. This skill, although apparent throughout all nationalities, has been shown to vary in successful application at different age groups. In experiments done comparing younger and older adults to the same unpleasant stimuli, older adults were able to regulate their emotional reactions in a way that seemed to avoid negative confrontation. These findings support the theory that with time people develop a better ability to regulate their emotions. This ability found in adults seems to better allow individuals to react in what would be considered a more appropriate manner in some social situations, permitting them to avoid adverse situations that could be seen as detrimental.

Expressive Regulation (in Solitary Conditions)

In solitary conditions, emotion regulation can include a minimisation-miniaturisation effect, in which common outward expressive patterns are replaced with toned down versions of expression. Unlike other situations, in which physical expression (and its regulation) serve a social purpose (i.e. conforming to display rules or revealing emotion to outsiders), solitary conditions require no reason for emotions to be outwardly expressed (although intense levels of emotion can bring out noticeable expression anyway). The idea behind this is that as people get older, they learn that the purpose of outward expression (to appeal to other people), is not necessary in situations in which there is no one to appeal to. As a result, the level of emotional expression can be lower in these solitary situations.

Stress

The way an individual reacts to stress can directly overlap with their ability to regulate emotion. Although the two concepts differ in a multitude of ways, “both coping [with stress] and emotion regulation involve affect modulation and appraisal processes” that are necessary for healthy relationships and self-identity.

According to Yu. V. Shcherbatykh, emotional stress in situations like school examinations can be reduced by engaging in self-regulating activities prior to the task being performed. To study the influence of self-regulation on mental and physiological processes under exam stress, Shcherbatykh conducted a test with an experimental group of 28 students (of both sexes) and a control group of 102 students (also of both sexes).

In the moments before the examination, situational stress levels were raised in both groups from what they were in quiet states. In the experimental group, participants engaged in three self-regulating techniques (concentration on respiration, general body relaxation, and the creation of a mental image of successfully passing the examination). During the examination, the anxiety levels of the experimental group were lower than that of the control group. Also, the percent of unsatisfactory marks in the experimental group was 1.7 times less than in the control group. From this data, Shcherbatykh concluded that the application of self-regulating actions before examinations helps to significantly reduce levels of emotional strain, which can help lead to better performance results.

Emotion regulation has also been associated with physiological responses to stress during laboratory stress paradigms.

Decision Making

Identification of our emotional self-regulating process can facilitate in the decision making process. Current literature on emotion regulation identifies that humans characteristically make efforts in controlling emotion experiences. There is then a possibility that our present state emotions can be altered by emotion regulation strategies resulting in the possibility that different regulation strategies could have different decision implications.

Effects of Low Self-Regulation

With a failure in emotion regulation, there is a rise in psychosocial and emotional dysfunctions caused by traumatic experiences due to an inability to regulate emotions. These traumatic experiences typically happen in grade school and are sometimes associated with bullying. Children who can not properly self-regulate express their volatile emotions in a variety of ways, including screaming if they don’t have their way, lashing out with their fists, throwing objects (such as chairs), or bullying other children. Such behaviours often elicit negative reactions from the social environment, which, in turn, can exacerbate or maintain the original regulation problems over time, a process termed cumulative continuity. These children are more likely to have conflict-based relationships with their teachers and other children. This can lead to more severe problems such as an impaired ability to adjust to school and predicts school dropout many years later. Children who fail to properly self-regulate grow as teenagers with more emerging problems. Their peers begin to notice this “immaturity”, and these children are often excluded from social groups and teased and harassed by their peers. This “immaturity” certainly causes some teenagers to become social outcasts in their respective social groups, causing them to lash out in angry and potentially violent ways. Being teased or being an outcast in childhood is especially damaging because it could lead to psychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety (in which dysregulated emotions play a central role), which, in turn, could lead to more peer victimisation. This is why it is recommended to foster emotional self-regulation in children as early as possible.

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On This Day … 22 October [2022]

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People (Births)

  • 1920 – Timothy Leary, American psychologist and author (d. 1996).

People (Deaths)

  • 1952 – Ernst Rüdin, Swiss psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist (b. 1874).
  • 1979 – Mieko Kamiya, Japanese psychiatrist and author (b. 1914).

Timothy Leary

Timothy Francis Leary (22 October 1920 to 31 May 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarised, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was “a hero of American consciousness”, according to Allen Ginsberg, and Tom Robbins called him a “brave neuronaut”.

As a clinical psychologist at Harvard University, Leary founded the Harvard Psilocybin Project after a revealing experience with magic mushrooms in Mexico. He led the Project from 1960 to 1962, testing the therapeutic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin, which were legal in the US, in the Concord Prison Experiment and the Marsh Chapel Experiment. Other Harvard faculty questioned his research’s scientific legitimacy and ethics because he took psychedelics along with his subjects and allegedly pressured students to join in. One of Leary’s students, Robert Thurman, has denied that Leary pressured unwilling students. Harvard fired Leary and his colleague Richard Alpert (later known as Ram Dass) in May 1963. Many people only learned of psychedelics after the Harvard scandal.

Leary believed that LSD showed potential for therapeutic use in psychiatry. He took LSD and developed a philosophy of mind expansion and personal truth through LSD. After leaving Harvard, he continued to publicly promote psychedelic drugs and became a well-known figure of the counterculture of the 1960s. He popularised catchphrases that promoted his philosophy, such as “turn on, tune in, drop out”, “set and setting”, and “think for yourself and question authority”. He also wrote and spoke frequently about transhumanist concepts of space migration, intelligence increase, and life extension (SMI²LE). Leary developed the eight-circuit model of consciousness in his book Exo-Psychology (1977) and gave lectures, occasionally calling himself a “performing philosopher”.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Leary was arrested 36 times. President Richard Nixon once called him “the most dangerous man in America”.

Ernst Rudin

Ernst Rüdin (19 April 1874 to 22 October 1952) was a Swiss-born German psychiatrist, geneticist, eugenicist and Nazi, rising to prominence under Emil Kraepelin and assuming his directorship at what is now called the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich.

While he has been credited as a pioneer of psychiatric inheritance studies, he also argued for, designed, justified and funded the mass sterilization and clinical killing of adults and children.

Mieko Kamiya

Mieko Kamiya (神谷 美恵子, Kamiya Mieko, 12 January 1914 to 22 October 1979) was a Japanese psychiatrist who treated leprosy patients at Nagashima Aiseien Sanatorium.

She was known for translating books on philosophy. She worked as a medical doctor in the Department of Psychiatry at Tokyo University following World War II. She was said to have greatly helped the Ministry of Education and the General Headquarters, where the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers stayed, in her role as an English-speaking secretary, and served as an adviser to Empress Michiko. She wrote many books as a highly educated, multi-lingual person; one of her books, titled On the Meaning of Life (Ikigai Ni Tsuite in Japanese), based on her experiences with leprosy patients, attracted many readers.

What is Dissociative Disorder?

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Introduction

Dissociative disorders (DD) are conditions that involve disruptions or breakdowns of memory, awareness, identity, or perception.

People with dissociative disorders use dissociation as a defence mechanism, pathologically and involuntarily. The individual experiences these dissociations to protect themselves. Some dissociative disorders are triggered by psychological trauma, but depersonalisation–derealisation disorder may be preceded only by stress, psychoactive substances, or no identifiable trigger at all.

The dissociative disorders listed in the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-5 are as follows:

  • Dissociative identity disorder (formerly multiple personality disorder): the alternation of two or more distinct personality states with impaired recall among personality states. In extreme cases, the host personality is unaware of the other, alternating personalities; however, the alternate personalities can be aware of all the existing personalities.
  • Dissociative amnesia (formerly psychogenic amnesia): the temporary loss of recall memory, specifically episodic memory, due to a traumatic or stressful event. It is considered the most common dissociative disorder amongst those documented. This disorder can occur abruptly or gradually and may last minutes to years depending on the severity of the trauma and the patient. Dissociative fugue was previously a separate category but is now treated as a specifier for dissociative amnesia.
  • Depersonalisation-derealisation disorder: periods of detachment from self or surrounding which may be experienced as “unreal” (lacking in control of or “outside” self) while retaining awareness that this is only a feeling and not a reality.
  • The old category of dissociative disorder not otherwise specified is now split into two: other specified dissociative disorder, and unspecified dissociative disorder. These categories are used for forms of pathological dissociation that do not fully meet the criteria of the other specified dissociative disorders; or if the correct category has not been determined; or the disorder is transient.

The ICD 11 lists dissociative disorders as:

  • Dissociative neurological symptom disorder.
  • Dissociative amnesia.
  • Dissociative amnesia with dissociative fugue.
  • Trance disorder.
  • Possession trance disorder.
  • Dissociative identity disorder.
  • Partial dissociative identity disorder.
  • Depersonalisation-derealisation disorder.

Cause and Treatment

Dissociative Identity Disorder

Cause

Dissociative identity disorder is caused by ongoing childhood trauma that occurs before the ages of six to nine. People with dissociative identity disorder usually have close relatives who have also had similar experiences.

Treatment

Long-term psychotherapy to improve the patient’s quality of life.

Dissociative Amnesia

Cause

A way to cope with trauma.

Treatment

Psychotherapy (e.g. talk therapy) counselling or psychosocial therapy which involves talking about your disorder and related issues with a mental health provider. Psychotherapy often involves hypnosis (help you remember and work through the trauma); creative art therapy (using creative process to help a person who cannot express his or her thoughts); cognitive therapy (talk therapy to identify unhealthy and negative beliefs/behaviours); and medications (antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, or sedatives). These medications help control the symptoms associated with the dissociative disorders, but there are no medications yet that specifically treat dissociative disorders. However, the medication pentothal can sometimes help to restore the memories. The length of an event of dissociative amnesia may be a few minutes or several years. If an episode is associated with a traumatic event, the amnesia may clear up when the person is removed from the traumatic situation. Dissociative fugue was a separate category but is now listed as a specifier for dissociative amnesia.

Depersonalisation-Derealisation Disorder

Cause

Dissociative disorders usually develop as a way to cope with trauma. The disorders most often form in children subjected to chronic physical, sexual or emotional abuse or, less frequently, a home environment that is otherwise frightening or highly unpredictable; however, this disorder can also acutely form due to severe traumas such as war or the death of a loved one.

Treatment

Same treatment as dissociative amnesia. An episode of depersonalisation–derealisation disorder can be as brief as a few seconds or continue for several years.

Dissociative disorders, especially dissociative identity disorder (DID), while being the result of extraordinary abuse and trauma in childhood, it should not be attributed exotic status. DID would be better examined through a more holistic lens, taking into considering the social, cognitive, and neural components, and how they interact with one another.

Medications

There are no medications to treat dissociative disorders, however, drugs to treat anxiety and depression that may accompany the disorders can be given.

Diagnosis and Prevalence

The lifetime prevalence of dissociative disorders varies from 10% in the general population to 46% in psychiatric inpatients. Diagnosis can be made with the help of structured clinical interviews such as the Dissociative Disorders Interview Schedule (DDIS) and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Dissociative Disorders (SCID-D-R), and behavioural observation of dissociative signs during the interview. Additional information can be helpful in diagnosis, including the Dissociative Experiences Scale or other questionnaires, performance-based measures, records from doctors or academic records, and information from partners, parents, or friends. A dissociative disorder cannot be ruled out in a single session and it is common for patients diagnosed with a dissociative disorder to not have a previous dissociative disorder diagnosis due to a lack of clinician training. Some diagnostic tests have also been adapted or developed for use with children and adolescents such as the Adolescent Dissociative Experiences Scale, Children’s Version of the Response Evaluation Measure (REM-Y-71), Child Interview for Subjective Dissociative Experiences, Child Dissociative Checklist (CDC), Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) Dissociation Subscale, and the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children Dissociation Subscale.

Dissociative disorders have been found to be quite prevalent in outpatient populations, as well as within low-income communities. One study found that in a population of poor inner-city outpatients, there was a 29% prevalence of dissociative disorders.

There are problems with classification, diagnosis and therapeutic strategies of dissociative and conversion disorders which can be understood by the historic context of hysteria. Even current systems used to diagnose DD such as the DSM-IV and ICD-10 differ in the way the classification is determined. In most cases mental health professionals are still hesitant to diagnose patients with Dissociative Disorder, because before they are considered to be diagnosed with Dissociative Disorder these patients have more than likely been diagnosed with major depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, and most often post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It has been found from interviews with those who may be afflicted with dissociative disorders may be more effective at getting an accurate diagnosis than self-scoring assessments and scales.

The prevalence of dissociative disorders is not completely understood due to the many difficulties in diagnosing dissociative disorders. Many of these difficulties stem from a misunderstanding of dissociative disorders, from an unfamiliarity diagnosis or symptoms to disbelief in some dissociative disorders entirely. Due to this it has been found that only 28% to 48% of people diagnosed with a dissociative disorder receive treatment for their mental health. Patients who are misdiagnosed are often those more likely to be hospitalised repeatedly, and lack of treatment can result in intensive outpatient treatment and higher rates of disability.

An important concern in the diagnosis of dissociative disorders in forensic interviews is the possibility that the patient may be feigning symptoms in order to escape negative consequences. Young criminal offenders report much higher levels of dissociative disorders, such as amnesia. In one study it was found that 1% of young offenders reported complete amnesia for a violent crime, while 19% claimed partial amnesia. There have also been cases in which people with dissociative identity disorder provide conflicting testimonies in court, depending on the personality that is present. The world-wide prevalence of dissociative disorders is not well understood due to different cultural beliefs surrounding human emotions and the human brain

Children and Adolescents

Dissociative disorders (DD) are widely believed to have roots in adverse childhood experiences including abuse and loss, but the symptoms often go unrecognised or are misdiagnosed in children and adolescents. However, a recent western Chinese study showed an increase in awareness of dissociative disorders present in children These studies show that DD’s have an intricate relationship with the patient’s mental, physical and socio-cultural environments. This study suggested that dissociative disorders are more common in Western, or developing countries, however, some cases have been seen in both clinical and non-clinical Chinese populations. There are several reasons why recognising symptoms of dissociation in children is challenging: it may be difficult for children to describe their internal experiences; caregivers may miss signals or attempt to conceal their own abusive or neglectful behaviours; symptoms can be subtle or fleeting; disturbances of memory, mood, or concentration associated with dissociation may be misinterpreted as symptoms of other disorders.

Another resource, Beacon House, informs us of dissociative disorder in children, suggesting that it is a survival mechanism that often goes unnoticed in children that have been traumatised. Dr. Shoshanah Lyons suggests that traumatised children often continue to dissociate even though they might not be in any danger, and that they are often unaware that they are dissociating. In addition to developing diagnostic tests for children and adolescents (see above), a number of approaches have been developed to improve recognition and understanding of dissociation in children. Recent research has focused on clarifying the neurological basis of symptoms associated with dissociation by studying neurochemical, functional and structural brain abnormalities that can result from childhood trauma. Others in the field have argued that recognising disorganised attachment (DA) in children can help alert clinicians to the possibility of dissociative disorders. In their 2008 article, Rebecca Seligman and Laurence Kirmayer suggest the existence of evidence of linkages between trauma experienced in childhood and the capacity for dissociation or depersonalisation. They also suggest that individuals who are able to utilise dissociative techniques are able to keep this as an extended strategy to cope with stressful situations.

Clinicians and researchers stress the importance of using a developmental model to understand both symptoms and the future course of DDs. In other words, symptoms of dissociation may manifest differently at different stages of child and adolescent development and individuals may be more or less susceptible to developing dissociative symptoms at different ages. Further research into the manifestation of dissociative symptoms and vulnerability throughout development is needed. Related to this developmental approach, more research is required to establish whether a young patient’s recovery will remain stable over time.

Current Debates and the DSM-5

A number of controversies surround DD in adults as well as children. First, there is ongoing debate surrounding the aetiology of dissociative identity disorder (DID). The crux of this debate is if DID is the result of childhood trauma and disorganized attachment. A proposed view is that dissociation has a physiological basis, in that it involves automatically triggered mechanisms such as increased blood pressure and alertness, that would, as Lynn contends, imply its existence as a cross-species disorder. A second area of controversy surrounds the question of whether or not dissociation as a defence versus pathological dissociation are qualitatively or quantitatively different. Experiences and symptoms of dissociation can range from the more mundane to those associated with PTSD or acute stress disorder (ASD) to dissociative disorders. Mirroring this complexity, the DSM-5 workgroup considered grouping dissociative disorders with other trauma/stress disorders, but instead decided to put them in the following chapter to emphasize the close relationship. The DSM-5 also introduced a dissociative subtype of PTSD.

A 2012 review article supports the hypothesis that current or recent trauma may affect an individual’s assessment of the more distant past, changing the experience of the past and resulting in dissociative states. However, experimental research in cognitive science continues to challenge claims concerning the validity of the dissociation construct, which is still based on Janetian notions of structural dissociation. Even the claimed etiological link between trauma/abuse and dissociation has been questioned. Links observed between trauma/abuse and DD are largely only present from a Western cultural context. For non-Western cultures dissociation “may constitute a “normal” psychological capacity”. An alternative model proposes a perspective on dissociation based on a recently established link between a labile sleep-wake cycle and memory errors, cognitive failures, problems in attentional control, and difficulties in distinguishing fantasy from reality.

Debates around DD also stem from Western versus non-Western lenses of viewing the disorder, and associated views of causes of DD. DID was initially believed to be specific to the West, until cross-cultural studies indicated its occurrence worldwide. Conversely, anthropologists have largely done little work on DD in the West relating to its perceptions of possession syndromes that would be present in non-Western societies. While dissociation has been viewed and catalogued by anthropologists differently in the West and non-Western societies, there are aspects of each that show DD has universal characteristics. For example, while shamanic and rituals of non-Western societies may hold dissociative aspects, this is not exclusive as many Christian sects, such as “possession by the Holy Ghost” share similar qualities to those of non-Western trances.

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociative_disorder >; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA.

On This Day … 20 October [2022]

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People (Births)

  • 1927 – Joyce Brothers, American psychologist, author, and actress (d. 2013).

People (Deaths)

  • 2015 – Arno Gruen, German-Swiss psychologist and psychoanalyst (b. 1923).

Joyce Brothers

Joyce Diane Brothers (20 October 1927 to 13 May 2013) was an American psychologist, television personality, advice columnist, and writer.

She first became famous in 1955 for winning the top prize on the American game show The $64,000 Question. Her fame from the game show allowed her to go on to host various advice columns and television shows, which established her as a pioneer in the field of “pop (popular) psychology”.

Brothers is often credited as the first to normalize psychological concepts to the American mainstream. Her syndicated columns were featured in newspapers and magazines, including a monthly column for Good Housekeeping, in which she contributed for nearly 40 years. As Brothers quickly became the “face of psychology” for American audiences, she often appeared in various television roles, usually as herself. From the 1970s onward, she also began to accept fictional roles that parodied her “woman psychologist” persona. She is noted for working continuously for five decades across various genres. Numerous groups recognised Brothers for her strong leadership as a woman in the psychological field and for helping to destigmatise the profession overall.

Arno Gruen

Arno Gruen (26 May 1923 to 20 October 2015) was a Swiss-German psychologist and psychoanalyst.

Who is Darian Leader?

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Introduction

Darian Leader (born 1965) is a British psychoanalyst and author.

Biography

Leader was educated at St Paul’s School in London, studied philosophy at Downing College, Cambridge and then he earned an M.A. in history of science in Paris (at Paris VIII), where he also trained as an analyst. He is a founding member of the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research (CFAR).

Darian Leader was president of the College of Psychoanalysts, a trustee of the Freud Museum, and honorary visiting professor in psychoanalysis at Roehampton University. In 2015 he received the Mercier Chair at the University of Louvain for his work in psychoanalysis.

What is the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy?

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Introduction

The United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) is a professional association of psychotherapy organisations and practitioners in the United Kingdom. It is restricted to registered clinical psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors (similar, but with shorter training).

Refer to Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research.

Constitution

The UKCP exists to “promote and maintain the profession of psychotherapy and the highest standards in the practice of psychotherapy throughout the United Kingdom, for the benefit of the public.” Only psychotherapists or psycho-therapeutic counsellors who meet UKCP’s training requirements and abide by its ethical guidelines are included in its online “Register of Psychotherapists”.

The UKCP was initially founded in the 1980s as the United Kingdom Standing Conference for Psychotherapy following the Foster Report (1971) and the Sieghart Report (1978), which recommended regulation of the psychotherapy field. It was formally inaugurated as a council in 1993.

The UKCP has since evolved into a national umbrella organisation for most major psychotherapeutic modalities. As of 2012, there are more than 70 member organisations representing all the main traditions in the practice of psychotherapy.

The council is run by a board of trustees which is elected by the council’s members. A number of subcommittees, including the ethics committee, report directly to the board of trustees.

UKCP also represents the United Kingdom in the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP) – a Vienna-based umbrella organisation which sets standards for equivalence of training and practice throughout Europe – and is part of the National Awarding Organisation (NAO) overseeing the European Certificate of Psychotherapy (ECP) award in the UK.

Objectives

  • To promote the art and science of psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic counselling for the public benefit.
  • To promote research in psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic counselling, and to disseminate the results of any such research.
  • To promote high standards of education, training and practice in psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic counselling.
  • To promote the wider provision of psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic counselling for all sections of the public.

Campaigns

The UKCP’s campaign work has included collaboration with NICE and the Health Professions Council. Campaigns have included:

  • NICE under scrutiny.
  • NICE consultations.
  • Reparative therapy.
  • Services under threat.
  • Skills for Health.

Regulatory Role

The UKCP regards the regulation of psychotherapists and the public accountability of their practice as important means to safeguard the interests of patients, clients, and the reputation of registered practitioners. The present Register is voluntary – it is not required by any Act of Parliament – but the UKCP is campaigning with other related organisations for the statutory regulation of the “talking therapy” professions.

The UKCP delegates the accreditation and re-accreditation of members to UKCP organisational members. Organisational members may be designated as “training”, “accrediting” or both. Individual psychotherapists can join the UKCP register only following accreditation by one of these organisations. At present there is no way of registering directly with UKCP.

The UKCP does not run courses leading to UKCP accreditation; courses are provided by its organisational members. Some training organisations also accredit and will award Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) or give credit for previous training experience.

Candidates for registration who trained on a course that does not lead directly to membership need to seek accreditation by an accrediting organisation member.

Despite the UKCP stating that “We exist to promote and maintain high standards of practice of psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic counselling for the benefit of the public throughout the United Kingdom”, there have been numerous complaints and instances of UKCP registered therapists violating the rights of their clients, harming them psychologically, emotionally and sexually. Some of these instances have resulted in therapists escaping any concrete punishments for their actions and being allowed to continue practicing. One case involved the sexual abuse of a mentally ill client by a therapist registered with the Guild of Analytical Psychologists, a member organisation of the UKCP, with the therapist receiving a suspension only. A report carried out by unsafespaces.com found that one in four therapists continue to practice despite being struck off by member institutions.

Structure

  • Board of Trustees.
  • UKCP colleges.
  • UKCP committees.
  • Faculties and groups.
  • Members’ Forum.
  • Special interest groups.

UKCP Colleges

There are 11 UKCP colleges:

  • Cognitive Psychotherapies College (CPC).
  • College of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapies (C-CAP).
  • College for Family, Couple and Systemic Therapy (CFCST).
  • College of Hypno-psychotherapists (CH-P).
  • College of Medical Psychotherapists (CMP).
  • College for Sexual and Relationship Psychotherapy (CSRP).
  • Constructivist and Existential College (CEC).
  • Council for Psychoanalysis and Jungian Analysis College (CPJAC).
  • Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy College (HIPC).
  • Psychotherapeutic Counselling and Intersubjective Psychotherapy College (PCIPC).
  • Universities Training College (UTC).

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_Council_for_Psychotherapy >; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA.

What is the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research?

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Introduction

Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research (CFAR) is a psychoanalysis research, training and low-cost treatment centre located in London, United Kingdom.

CFAR is a member organisation of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP). CFAR operates within the psychoanalytic tradition of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan.

Brief History

The centre was founded in 1985 by Bice Benvenuto, Professor Bernard Burgoyne, Richard Klein and Darian Leader. It was established as a charity with the purpose of advancing education for the benefit of the public in particular by the provision of training and seminars in psychoanalysis.

Courses

CFAR offers introductory and advanced courses in psychoanalysis, and trains psychoanalysts within the context of its clinical training programme. Seminars are given by visiting Lacanian analysts from France, Belgium, Spain and Australia.

Publications

The Centre publishes a Journal JCFAR which contains articles on psychoanalytic themes from a Freudian and Lacanian perspective. In association with Karnac Books CFAR has published The Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research Library which aims to make classic Lacanian texts available in English for the first time, as well as publishing original research in the Lacanian field:

  • Sexual Ambiguities by Geneviève Morel.
  • The Trainings of the Psychoanalyst by Annie Tardits.
  • Freud and the Desire of the Psychoanalyst by Serge Cottet.
  • Lacan and Levi-Strauss or The Return to Freud (1951-1957) by Markos Zafiropoulos.

Challenge to Health Professions Council

In February 2007 the UK Government published a white paper (‘Trust, Assurance and Safety – The Regulation of Health Professionals in the 21st Century’) which stated that “The government is planning to introduce statutory regulation for…psychotherapists and counsellors…” and that “…psychotherapists and counsellors will be regulated by the Health Professions Council, following that Council’s rigorous process of assessing their regulatory needs and ensuring that its system is capable of accommodating them”.

As a response to this proposed regulation by the Health Professions Council (HPC), CFAR was one of the organisations that contributed to the Maresfield report which opposed the suitability of the HPC as a regulating body for the professions of counselling and psychotherapy in the UK.

Following on from this report, CFAR was one of six organisations that called for a judicial review of whether or not the HPC had, in fact, fully assessed the regulatory needs of the professions or properly determined if it was the most appropriate body to provide such regulation. On Friday 10 December 2010, a Judicial Review Permission Hearing under The Hon. Mr Justice Burton at the Royal Courts of Justice found against the Health Professions Council and granted permission to proceed towards a Judicial Review of the proposals for regulation under the HPC. On 16 February 2011 the UK government – in its command paper ‘Enabling Excellence’ – halted the project to regulate counselling, psychotherapy and other talking treatments via the HPC.

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_for_Freudian_Analysis_and_Research >; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA.

What is a British Approved Name?

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Introduction

A British Approved Name (BAN) is the official, non-proprietary, or generic name given to a pharmaceutical substance, as defined in the British Pharmacopoeia (BP).

The BAN is also the official name used in some countries around the world, because starting in 1953, proposed new names were evaluated by a panel of experts from WHO in conjunction with the BP commission to ensure naming consistency worldwide (an effort leading to the International Nonproprietary Name system).

There is also a British Approved Name (Modified) (BANM).

Combination Preparations

BANs are unique in that names are assigned for combination preparations as well as single-drug preparations. For example, the BAN Co-amoxiclav is assigned to preparations containing amoxicillin and clavulanic acid. Most other pharmacopoeias simply refer to combination products by both ingredients in the preparation, in this example “amoxicillin with clavulanic acid”.

The prefix of “co-” is used for many combination drugs, including opioid with paracetamol or aspirin analgesics (e.g. Co-codamol, Co-codaprin, Co-dydramol, Co-proxamol). The other commonly encountered opioid combination is the anti-diarrhoeal, non-analgesic mixture of diphenoxylate and atropine, Co-phenotrope (aka Lomotil). Also antibiotics (e.g. Co-fluampicil and Co-trimoxazole), drugs to lower blood pressure (e.g. Co-tenidone), diuretics (e.g. Co-amilofruse and Co-amilozide), gastrointestinal drugs (e.g. Co-danthrusate), and anti-Parkinsonism agents such as Co-careldopa, Co-beneldopa, and others (e.g. Co-cyprindiol).

BAN Harmonisation

European Union legislation from 2001 required harmonisation of the BP with the European Pharmacopoeia (EP), as well as the adoption of International Nonproprietary Names through directives (2001/82/EC and 2001/83/EC, as amended, and 2003/63/EC). Across the EU has meant that, with the notable exception of adrenaline/epinephrine, BANs are now the same as the INNs. For example, the old BAN methicillin was replaced with the current BAN meticillin, matching the INN.

This has resulted in an interesting situation in other countries that use BANs. While the British Pharmacopoeia and BANs are the official pharmacopoeia/names defined by legislation in many of these countries, the former BANs often continue to be used, purportedly because of the difficulty of changeover. Despite the importance of the BP, there appears to be little or no movement in the direction of changing these names. In Australia, the Australian Approved Names are generally the same as BANs, but a few exceptions remain.

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Approved_Name >; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA.

What is BPDFamily.com?

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Introduction

BPDFamily.com is an online support group for the family members of individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD).

The group is one of the first “cyber” support groups to be recognised by the medical providers and receive professional referrals.

Outline

BPDFamily.com provides articles and message boards for family members to learn and share their experiences. The articles explain borderline personality disorder in understandable terms, and the discussion groups help to normalise the experiences of family members. The site appeals to family members who care about someone with BPD, but are frustrated with the relationship demands and conflict.

The site educates its members on concepts developed by Shari Manning PhD, Margalis Fjelstad PhD, Robert O. Friedel MD, and the NEA-BPD Family Connections Programme and reached out to academia for collaborations. The site has an interactive web program that teaches the basic principles of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

The website and support group are certified as a reputable health information resource by the Health On the Net Foundation.

Funding has come from benefactors and member donations.

Use by Healthcare Professionals

BPDFamily.com is a listed reference site of the National Health Service (England), the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder, and the Personality Disorders Awareness Network.

The group’s services and programmes are recommended in Primer on Borderline Personality Disorder, Abnormal and Clinical Psychology: An Introductory Textbook, Resources to Improve Emotional Health and Strengthen Relationships, I Hate You–Don’t Leave Me: Understanding the Borderline Personality, The Essential Family Guide to Borderline Personality Disorder, Stop Walking on Eggshells, and Discovering Your Inner Child: Transforming Toxic Patterns and Finding Your Joy. The site has been recommended by about.com expert Kristalyn Salters-Pedneault, PhD, Salon advice columnist Cary Tennis, PsychCentral columnist Kate Thieda, and by Randi Kreger at BPDCentral.

The organisation has been involved and referenced in clinical research studies conducted by: Columbia University, University of Wollongong (Australia), California State University, Sacramento, University of Toronto (Canada), University of Nevada, Bowling Green State University, Wright Institute (California), Colorado School of Professional Psychology, Long Island University, Alliant International University (California), Macquarie University (Australia), Middle Tennessee State University, Simon Fraser University (Canada) and Walden University. The organisation also supports industry research studies conducted by the Treatment and Research Advancements Association for Personality Disorder (TARA-APD).

In a January 2013 column, Kristalyn Salters-Pedneault at Boston University School of Medicine says that although she highly recommends this group for family members, readers with borderline personality disorder should keep in mind that some people have been hurt by their family member with BPD and are speaking from this perspective

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BPDFamily.com >; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA.

On This Day … 18 October [2022]

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People (Births)

People (Deaths)

  • 1911 – Alfred Binet, French psychologist and author (b. 1857).
  • 2018 – Lisbeth Palme, Swedish child psychologist, former chairwoman of UNICEF (b. 1931).

Martha Burk

Martha Gertrude Burk (born 18 October 1941) is an American political psychologist, feminist, and former Chair of the National Council of Women’s Organisations.

Alfred Binet

Alfred Binet (08 July 1857 to 18 October 1911), born Alfredo Binetti, was a French psychologist who invented the first practical IQ test, the Binet-Simon test. In 1904, the French Ministry of Education asked psychologist Alfred Binet to devise a method that would determine which students did not learn effectively from regular classroom instruction so they could be given remedial work. Along with his collaborator Théodore Simon, Binet published revisions of his test in 1908 and 1911, the last of which appeared just before his death.

Lisbeth Palme

Anna Lisbeth Christina Palme (née Beck-Friis; 14 March 1931 to 18 October 2018) was a Swedish children’s psychologist, UNICEF chairwoman and the wife of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, until his assassination in 1986.