Étude visant à intégrer les perspectives cognitive et psychodynamique sur le lien entre l’instabilité affective et le concept de soi dans une population présentant des traits de la personnalité limite
This research project investigates two diagnostic criteria of the borderline personality disorder: affective instability and self-concept instability, and the relationship between the two. Previously, competing theories to try to understand the nature of this relationship have been postulated. While factorial studies of the manifest symptoms of the borderline personality disorder are not conclusive, those issued from the cognitive research, in particular a study from Stein (1995), seem to contradict the psychodynamic theory of Kernberg (1976). This study aims to explore the link that exists between affective instability and self-concept instability in a population presenting with borderline personality traits, and tries to reconcile the opposition between Stein’s results and Kernberg’s theory.  In order to do this, we tested the hypothesis that the differences between these theories lies only at the surface, and that it would be possible to resolve by taking into account the level of treatment information. More precisely, we proposed that the interdependence (or unity) between the attributes of the self-concept will be positively correlated to the affective instability when the self-concept is measured in a task appealing to conscious attributes. Conversely, the integration between the attributes of the self-concept will be negatively correlated with affective instability when the self-concept is measured by a task appealing to unconscious representations. Initial results obtained in this study did not support these hypotheses. However, we have also described various limitations of the study, such as low statistical power, and discussed how to improve future research in this area.
Borderline personality disorder Affective instability Self-concept instability Consicous self-concept Unconscious self-concept