Using Palm Pilots to Study Emotion Regulation in Borderline Personality Disorder

People who meet diagnostic criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD) often have difficulties regulating their emotions. They tend to get upset or angry quickly, can have intense and long-lasting emotional distress, and when overwhelmed sometimes do things that are problematic but immediately (and only very briefly) reduce their distress (e.g., self-harm, purging, drug use, etc). Treatments for people with BPD include extensive efforts to help improve emotion regulation skills (e.g., learn to know what you feel, and how to change emotions skillfully). However, few studies have been done to see whether certain ways in which people with BPD regulate their emotions influence their day-to-day experiences. The present study, conducted jointly with Dr. Alex Chapman at Simon Fraser University, is designed to examine how instructions to regulate emotion influences emotional experience and actions in people with BPD. Participants carry a Palm Pilot and are asked to respond to prompts from the Palm Pilot each day for several days. If you think you may have BPD, and would like to participate in this study, please contact the Study Coordinator, LisaLynn Kelley, at 684-6701.