Self-concept structure and borderline personality disorder: Evidence for negative compartmentalization

• BPD patients show more compartmentalized self-concepts than others.
• BPD patients show a higher proportion of negative self-attributes than others.
• BPD patients rate negative self-aspects as being more important than positive ones.
• BPD patients do not deviate in self-complexity than others.

Background and objectivesBorderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by an unstable and incongruent self-concept. However, there is a dearth of empirical studies investigating self-concept in BPD. In order to bridge this research gap, the purpose of this study was to apply an in-depth analysis of structural aspects of the self-concept in BPD.MethodsWe examined the degree of compartmentalization, i.e., a tendency to organize knowledge about the self into discrete, extremely valenced (i.e., either positive or negative) categories (Showers, 1992).ResultsWe hypothesized and found that BPD patients had the most compartmentalized self-concept structure and a higher proportion of negative self-attributes relative to both a non-clinical and a depressed control group. Moreover, BPD patients rated negative self-aspects as more important than positive ones relative to non-clinical controls.LimitationsWe cannot determine whether causal relationships exist between psychological symptoms and self-concept structure. Moreover, further comparisons to patients with other psychiatric disorders are necessary in order to further confirm the clinical specificity of our results.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that a negative compartmentalized self-concept is a specific feature of BPD. Implications for future research, psychological assessment, and psychotherapeutic treatment are discussed.