Cascades of Emotion: The Emergence of Borderline Personality Disorder from Emotional and Behavioral Dysregulation

Summary & key facts

This paper proposes the "Emotional Cascade Model" to explain how emotional problems and impulsive behaviors can be linked in borderline personality disorder (BPD). It says that after an emotional trigger, repetitive thinking (rumination) creates a loop that makes emotions grow stronger. Stronger emotions then lead to dysregulated, impulsive behaviors. Those behaviors distract people and give short-term relief, which then feeds back into the cycle. The authors describe BPD as an emergent outcome of interacting emotional cascades and other factors and compare the model to several therapy traditions.

Key facts:

• The authors propose the Emotional Cascade Model as a way to link emotional dysregulation and behavioral dysregulation in BPD.
• In the model, an emotional stimulus leads to rumination (repetitive thinking), which creates a positive feedback loop that increases emotional intensity.
• Higher emotional intensity, according to the model, leads to dysregulated behaviors (impulsive or self-damaging actions).
• Those dysregulated behaviors act as a distraction and produce temporary reduction of negative emotion, providing short-term relief and negative feedback to the emotional loop.
• The paper treats BPD as an emergent phenomenon that arises from the total interactions of a network containing emotional cascades and other contributing factors.
• The authors present and evaluate the model alongside cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic theories, suggesting the model may bridge different therapeutic traditions.
• The work is theoretical: it proposes and evaluates a model to explain observed patterns, rather than claiming definitive causal proof from new empirical tests.

Abstract

Theories of borderline personality disorder (BPD) have often considered it a disorder involving both emotional and behavioral dysregulation (Linehan, 1993), yet the connection between these phenomena has been elusive. The following paper proposes the Emotional Cascade Model, a model that attempts to establish a clear relationship between emotional dysregulation and the wide array of dysregulated behaviors found in BPD. In this model, subsequent to an emotional stimulus, ruminative processes result in a positive feedback loop that increases emotional intensity, and this emotional intensity leads to ensuing behavioral dysregulation. These behaviors then provide negative feedback, in the form of distraction, which induces temporary reduction of negative emotion and thus relief. The model is presented in a framework in which BPD is considered an emergent phenomenon (Lewin, 1992), where the disorder arises from the total interactions of a network containing emotional cascades and other important factors. The model is then evaluated in light of various theories and therapeutic traditions, including both cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic, indicating that it is a model that may transcend traditional theoretical and therapeutic doctrines.

Topics

Mental Health and Psychiatry Personality Disorders and Psychopathology Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications

Categories

Clinical Psychology Psychology Social Sciences

Tags

Affective neuroscience Anxiety Behavioral activation Borderline personality disorder Cognition Cognitive psychology Developmental psychology Distraction Emotional disorder Emotional dysregulation Neuroscience Personality Psychiatry Psychodynamics Psychology Psychotherapist Social psychology

Conditions & symptoms

Anxiety