Shame in Female Borderline Patients: Implicit and Explicit

A study in the American Journal of Psychiatry examined the association of shame with self-esteem, quality of life, and anger-hostility in women with borderline personality disorder. The 60 women in the borderline cohort were compared with respective cohorts of 30 women with social phobia, and 60 healthy women. Self-report measures of shame- and guilt-proneness, anxiety, and self-esteem were higher for the borderline cohort than for the comparison groups. Researchers also measured implicit self-concept related to shame, again finding the borderline cohort to be more shame-prone than comparison subjects. These results suggest that psychiatrists need to address “explicit and implicit aspects of shame.” http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/164/3/500

-LS