States of the Self within Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  How do Individuals Diagnosed with Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder Experience ‘Schema Modes’ or other States of Self?

• IRAS ID

  236003

• Contact name

  Helen Ellis-Caird

• Contact email

  h.ellis-caird@herts.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Hertfordshire

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 9 months, 27 days

• Research summary

  Schema therapy (ST) (Young et. al. 2003) is a form of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) that combines a number of therapy approaches. ST aims to address the links between a person’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours as well as considering the impact of childhood experiences and the therapeutic relationship between the client and the therapist.

  ST was originally developed for service-users with more complex difficulties, such as borderline personality disorder (BPD), who were not able to benefit from standard CBT. Before ST was developed, Young and colleagues noticed that people coping with BPD tended to show inconsistent, persistent patterns in their relationships, reporting a range of 'symptoms' including rapidly changing ‘states of self’. These states were later described as 'Modes' which were argued to explain many of the abrupt changes in thoughts, feelings and behaviours observed. Through Young's observations, five mode concepts were proposed as typically experienced by people with BPD:-

  -Abandoned Child
  -Angry and Impulsive Child
  -Punitive Parent
  -Detached Protector
  -Healthy Adult

  Although there is mixed scientific evidence for the presence of particular modes for BPD, and the clinical relevance of the mode concept, to date there has been no published qualitative research that has identified Young's modes or other states of self outside of a therapy setting. Furthermore, there are no studies that explore how modes are experienced by service-users, including what they may think about them.
  The proposed study aims to interview people with BPD to understand whether modes can be identified, how they are talked about and experienced, and to what extent these relate to Young’s mode concept. The data will be analysed qualitatively using Thematic Analysis and simple statistics while remaining open to any modes or themes that may emerge. The study hopes to make recommendations about understanding BPD, assessment and clinical decision-making.

• REC name

  East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  18/EE/0374

• Date of REC Opinion

  5 Apr 2019

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion