Dissertation

Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder : Diagnosis, Identity and Mother-Infant Interactions

Davison, Chloe

2021

Overview

This thesis is composed of three chapters. Chapter one is a narrative synthesis of 15 research studies exploring the impact of emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD) on the mother-infant relationship. Two main themes emerged: Attunement and Self-Awareness. A model is proposed for how these characteristics might interact. It suggests that mothers with EUPD typically perceive themselves to be less competent as parents and consequently experience emotional dysregulation when faced with stressful parenting situations. This dysregulated emotional state makes sensitive and attuned responding more difficult. Recommendations are made for early interventions that focus on improving maternal self-efficacy and emotion regulation. Chapter two is an empirical qualitative study exploring how women who have been diagnosed with EUPD, and have been hospitalised in relation to this diagnosis, incorporate these experiences into their identity. A Constructivist Grounded Theory approach was used to analyse the interviews of nine participants and to develop a theoretical model of their experiences. Five pairs of core categories reflected polarised experiences of diagnosis and hospitalisation: Validation vs. Confusion; Connection vs. Rejection; Something happened to me vs. Something wrong with me; Me vs. EUPD; and Direction vs. Hopelessness. Three overarching factors interacted with these categories to influence whether EUPD diagnosis and hospitalisation were incorporated into identity in a way that was helpful or harmful: Response of Others, Process of Diagnosis and Identity Fluctuation. Recommendations are made for how professionals should approach diagnosis, with a focus on providing knowledge, empowering service-users and understanding the individual meaning of diagnosis for each person. The final chapter is a reflective paper, which explores the author's journey through the empirical research process. Using concepts from the Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF) the author has considered how different stages of the process influenced their position as an academic and clinician. This highlighted the overlap between these roles and identified important ways in which learning from the research experience can be applied in clinical practice.

• Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Subject: Clinical psychology / Developmental psychology / Individual & family studies / Personality disorders / Personality psychology