Borderline Patients' quest for empathy: version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Borderline patients' quest for empathy.
IRAS ID
143974
Contact name
Mahin Golbandi-Nazif
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
years, 11 months, days
Research summary
This professional doctorate study explores whether individuals diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) report an increased level of empathy after completing a year of treatment in a Therapeutic Community (TC).
Individuals diagnosed with BPD have a poor empathic understanding of themselves and they cannot accurately read the thoughts and feelings of another person. The Diagnostic Statistical Manual - 5 (2013), characterised BPD as: manifesting impoverishment in the area of self-development and empathy.
Empathy: ‘the power of projecting one’s personality into (and fully comprehending) the object of contemplation’ (Comprehensive Oxford Dictionary). The ability ‘to put oneself into the other’s shoes…implies that one is both feeling oneself into the object and remaining aware of one’s own identity as another person’ (Rycroft, 1968).
A Therapeutic Community (TC) is ‘a culture of enquiry’ treatment setting consisting of psychotherapeutic group interactions that facilitate psychological exploration of self in relationship with others aiming towards gaining insight.
The researcher’s hypothesis is that a desire to understand self/other is a life-long strivings for the borderline individuals. This study aims to examine if the participants identify an increase in empathic understanding of the self, following TC treatment.
Six individuals will each take part in a one hour semi-structured interview. The interviews will be conducted individually, one per week for a period of six weeks. They will take place in the NHS premise of a TC with participants who are not known to the researcher. A research collaborator from the research setting will identify potential participants who are known to their service and will undertake recruitment.
Qualitative methodology and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) will be employed to make sense of participant's reported experiences and the meanings they attach to such experiences (Smith,2004).REC name
East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EM/0161
Date of REC Opinion
24 Apr 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion