The Relationship Between Borderline Personality Disorder And Emotional Intelligence

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is designated as a cluster B personality disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V). The DSM-V divides its 10 named personality disorders into three distinct clusters:

1. Cluster A: Cluster A personality disorders generally include personality disorders where the primary traits are viewed as odd or eccentric by other people. Cluster A disorders include paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders.
2. Cluster B: Cluster B personality disorders are typically defined as disorders involving overly dramatic or emotional behavior that can be perceived as unstable or unpredictable. Cluster B disorders include antisocial, narcissistic, histrionic, and borderline personality disorders. 
3. Cluster C: Cluster C personality disorders are classified as conditions that may lead a person to behave in a primarily anxious or fearful manner. Cluster C disorders include avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders.

Borderline personality disorder is usually characterized by impulsive behavior, an unstable sense of self that is typically associated with low self-esteem and unpredictable actions, turbulent interpersonal relationships, and extreme emotional or temperamental vulnerability, often manifesting in high levels of emotion dysregulation. Most personality disorders are associated with poor mental health outcomes, but borderline personality disorder appears to be associated with particularly high rates of suicidality and self-harm. It can be important for those experiencing symptoms of BPD to seek professional help through therapy.

Want to learn more about the emotional experience of BPD?

An online therapist can answer your questions

What is emotional intelligence?

Researchers have defined emotional intelligence as “the capacity of an individual to process emotional information to facilitate social functioning and improve cognitive activities.” Emotional intelligence typically comprises perceiving, using, managing, and understanding the emotions of oneself and others. 

People with high levels of emotional intelligence can usually:

• Recognize and label their own feelings
• Be aware of other people’s feelings and adjust their responses to such emotions accordingly
• Regulate emotions, both positive and negative, without resorting to maladaptive coping mechanisms like substance use, self-harm, reckless behavior, or other numbing actions
• Communicate their positive and negative emotions to other people in a way that is authentic and leads to stronger interpersonal relationships

Increased levels of emotional intelligence typically contribute to a number of positive life impacts. Emotional intelligence tends to be positively correlated with the following:

• Life satisfaction
• Happiness
• Ability to form close relationships with other people, which is associated with multiple improved health outcomes
• Subjective sense of well-being
• Self-control
• More adaptive coping styles, i.e., experiencing a negative emotion and journaling about it in an attempt to understand it better, as opposed to drinking alcohol to numb it

Psychology researchers often divide emotional intelligence into different categories. Some aspects of emotional intelligence may be areas a person can actively work on and improve over time. However, some psychologists also argue for the existence of what is known as trait emotional intelligence, or “people’s beliefs about their emotions.”

How is emotional intelligence impacted by borderline personality disorder?

Researchers have long studied the connection between emotional intelligence and borderline personality disorder. Although updated evidence may be necessary, one seminal study published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease in 2013 found that patients with BPD usually had an impaired ability to understand emotions as compared to people without personality disorder diagnoses and people with diagnoses of other personality disorders. Additionally, BPD traits usually impaired patients’ abilities not just to understand other people’s emotions, but to regulate their own.

One of the defining features of BPD can be experiencing high levels of emotion dysregulation. Psychologists typically understand emotion dysregulation as being split into:

• Lack of emotion modulation: Being unable to manage one’s emotions
• High levels of emotional vulnerability: Consistently experiencing emotional instability and being extremely sensitive to any kind of emotional stimuli

Emotion dysregulation can have significant impacts on daily life, which may help to explain the impaired functioning often experienced by people with BPD. This kind of dysregulation can make it difficult for a person to accomplish both daily tasks and larger goals, and, perhaps more significantly, may make it complicated for a person to adapt their behavior to different situations, which can be a key component of emotional intelligence.

BPD patients typically demonstrate additional deficits in the following areas of emotional intelligence:

• Self-awareness
• Control of their own emotions and emotional expressions
• Motivating oneself, particularly when experiencing a negative emotional state
• Having empathy for other people and comprehending other people’s emotional experiences
• Integrating their emotions, or understanding what has caused their emotions and that their emotions are temporary, will pass, and do not define them
• Identifying other people’s emotions (this deficit may extend to a reduced capability to recognize facial expressions demonstrating negative emotions)
• Lack of ability to self-soothe, which may result in a sensation of chronic emptiness

Some psychologists have even theorized that decreased levels of emotional intelligence may contribute to the higher incidences of self-harm in people with BPD (up to 90% of people with BPD engage in some form of self-harm). It is possible that it might be more difficult for people with BPD to distinguish between emotional pain and physical pain, so physical self-harm may be an unhealthy coping mechanism resulting from that tension.  

Want to learn more about the emotional experience of BPD?

An online therapist can answer your questions

Finding support for living with borderline personality disorder

Although much of the research related to emotional intelligence and borderline personality disorder can portray the condition as particularly bleak, it is possible to recover from the impacts of BPD. Therapeutic interventions like dialectical behavior therapy can be effective in decreasing BPD symptoms and increasing overall quality of life. 

For a person with BPD who also experiences difficulties with understanding and regulating emotions, attending a therapy appointment in person may be an additional source of stress. In these situations, online therapy may be a more accessible option. With online therapy through an accredited platform like BetterHelp, clients can attend sessions from the comfort of their homes. They can also choose how they would like to interact with their therapist, with online chat, phone, and video call options available, which may help individuals with BPD be more comfortable with the therapy process.

Research has demonstrated that there may not be any significant differences in efficacy between therapy accessed online and traditional in-person therapy appointments, including in the treatment of personality disorders like BPD. One recent study reviewing different pilot programs for online therapy, including a majority focused on borderline personality disorder, found that, in general, attending therapy online reduces personality disorder symptoms.