Borderline personality features are associated with worse perceptions of (but not compliance with) chronic pain treatment.

Treating chronic illness requires ongoing patient-provider cooperation, but individual differences in patients' negative perceptions of care can undermine this cooperation. Research suggests people high on borderline personality disorder (BPD) features may react negatively to and comply less with mental health and medical treatment. This might be particularly problematic in chronic pain treatment, where BPD features are over-represented and the dysregulation typifying BPD likely undermines consistent care. In a sample of 147 chronic pain patients, we investigated whether higher levels of BPD features - both in general and by specific facets - predicted worse perceptions of treatment and lower patient-reported compliance with treatment recommendations. Participants higher (vs. lower) on borderline features viewed treatment more negatively but did not report complying less with recommendations. We found evidence that this may reflect the unstable relationships facet of BPD. Our results indicate that, consistent with other treatment settings, BPD features may undermine care for chronic pain. Furthermore, our results highlight the importance of collaborative provider-patient relationships and patient agreement with the treatment of chronic pain, particularly among individuals higher on BPD features.

Borderline Personality Disorder Features Are Associated with Concurrent Pain-Related Disability in a Chronic Pain Sample.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether core features of borderline personality disorder are associated with increased rates of being on disability benefits due to chronic pain conditions. SUBJECTS: A total of 147 patients currently in treatment for chronic pain at a multimodal chronic pain clinic. METHODS: We tested for a concurrent relationship between borderline personality disorder features and employment status using self-report measures. RESULTS: Borderline personality disorder features were associated with increased likelihood of currently being on disability due to pain conditions (odds ratio [OR] = 23.13, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.68-318.73), on disability due to other conditions (OR = 33.65, 95% CI = 2.15-526.13), and unemployed (OR = 20.14, 95% CI = 1.38-294.93), even while controlling for pain severity and interference, depression, and trait anxiety. A follow-up analysis revealed that these associations were due to the negative relationships facet of borderline personality disorder features. CONCLUSIONS: Borderline personality disorder features, particularly negative relationships, are associated with increased rates of pain disability, general disability, and unemployment in a chronic pain sample. Future research should examine mechanisms by which the maladaptive interpersonal behaviors and cognitions of borderline personality disorder might result in worse long-term employment outcomes of chronic pain.

Borderline Features and Prescription Opioid Misuse in a Substance Use Disorder Treatment Sample.

BACKGROUND: An association between borderline personality disorder (BPD) and substance use disorders has been well established. However, very little is known about the relationship between BPD and prescription opioid misuse, specifically. OBJECTIVES: The relationship between borderline personality disorder features and prescription opioid misuse was examined in a sample of 208 substance use disorder treatment patients in the outpatient level of care. RESULTS: Controlling for use of alcohol and cannabis, as well as other relevant covariates, we found that BPD features were associated with age of first use of prescription opioids, prescription opioid use disorder symptom count, lifetime use, past 12-month use, problem use, and cravings. Additionally, we found that BPD features were not associated with greater use of medically necessary opioid pain killers as prescribed by a physician; rather the association with BPD was in the greater likelihood of misuse (non-prescribed) of prescription opioid pain killers. The self-harm/impulsivity facet of BPD was most strongly associated with prescription opioid-related variables. Conclusions/Importance: These findings suggest that BPD is related to prescription opioid misuse, above and beyond the tendency to use other drugs of abuse, and that the self-harm impulsivity facet appears to be driving this relationship.

Learning with conviction: Exploring the relationship between criminal legal system involvement and substance use and recovery outcomes for students in collegiate recovery programs.

This study examines the association of criminal legal system involvement and age with substance use and academic related outcomes among students involved in collegiate recovery programs in the US. We examined 435 students in collegiate recovery using a national survey of college students. We computed differences between non-system-involved, system-involved with no incarceration history, and formerly incarcerated participants on relevant substance use and recovery-related outcomes. The results provide evidence that there are significant differences between those system-involved and those who are not. Specifically, we found significant differences across the outcomes of recovery capital, quality of life, hours worked per week, and substance use disorder symptoms, but after controlling for relevant covariates, only the differences between hours worked (non-system involved and system involved < formerly incarcerated) and substance use disorder symptoms (non-system involved < system involved and formerly incarcerated) remained significant. The study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that nearly half of the collegiate students in recovery in this sample have legal system-involvement and a third have been incarcerated. Further, interventions for collegiate recovery programs may need to be adjusted to account for legal system involvement among their members.

Borderline Personality Disorder Features and Risk for Prescription Opioid Misuse in a Chronic Pain Sample: Roles for Identity Disturbances and Impulsivity.

Although borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with both chronic pain and substance abuse, little research examines how BPD features in chronic pain patients may constitute a risk factor for misuse of prescription opioids, and no prior research has examined which particular component(s) of BPD might put chronic pain patients at risk-an oversight that undermines prevention and treatment of such problematic opioid use. In a cross-sectional study of patients in treatment for chronic pain (N = 147), BPD features were associated with several measures of prescription opioid misuse, even controlling for pain severity and interference. Specifically, the identity disturbances and self-harmful impulsivity facets of BPD were most consistently associated with opioid misuse, and exploratory analyses suggested that these factors may be interactive in their effects. Together, these results suggest that BPD features-especially unstable identity and self-harmful impulsivity-play a unique role in problematic prescription opioid use in chronic pain settings.

Differences in illicit drug-use rates among Oklahoma and non-Oklahoma Indian youth.

Demographic factors may serve as risk or protective factors for drug use in American Indian communities. The purpose of the present study was to compare drug-use rates among Oklahoma and Non-Oklahoma Indian youth, and test corresponding rates of preventative and protective community, family, and social-demographic factors. Participants' data included 1,928 Indian 7th-12th graders from non-Oklahoma schools and 1,938 Indian students from schools in Oklahoma, aggregated across 2-3 years from an ongoing survey study of substance use and prevention among Indian youth. As predicted, one-way analysis of variance tests indicated that Oklahoma youth showed lower rates of drug use, later ages of initiation of drug use, and greater levels of perceived harm from using drugs. These differences were reflected in the predicted protective factor differences, including higher levels of exposure to anti-drug campaigns in the community and schools, greater family involvement in drug-use prevention, and lower levels of peer drug associations. The strength of these protective factors is illustrated by the fact that drug-use rates were lower among Oklahoma youth despite the perception among Oklahoma youth that drugs were more available, compared with non-Oklahoma youth. Limitations and suggestions for future research are noted.

Coping motives mediate the relationship between borderline personality features and alcohol, cannabis, and prescription opioid use disorder symptomatology in a substance use disorder treatment sample.

Borderline personality disorder and substance use disorder co-occur at a high rate. However, little is known about the mechanisms driving this association. This study examined substance use motives for 3 common substance use disorders among 193 individuals in substance use disorder treatment. We found that the coping motive consistently mediated the relationship between borderline personality and alcohol, cannabis, and prescription opioid use disorders. For this substance use disorder treatment sample, our findings support the self-medication model of substance use, and that interventions aimed at coping-related substance use would be helpful among these patients. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Parallel modeling of pain and depression in prediction of relapse during buprenorphine and naloxone treatment: A finite mixture model.

BACKGROUND: Relapse is common in treatment for opioid use disorders (OUDs). Pain and depression often co-occur during OUD treatment, yet little is known about how they influence relapse among patients with a primary diagnosis of prescription opioid use disorder (POUD). Advanced statistical analyses that can simultaneously model these two conditions may lead to targeted clinical interventions. METHOD: The objective of this study was to utilize a discrete survival analysis with a growth mixture model to test time to prescription opioid relapse, predicted by parallel growth trajectories of depression and pain, in a clinical sample of patients in buprenorphine/naloxone treatment. The latent class analysis characterized heterogeneity with data collected from the National Institute of Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network project (CTN-0030). RESULTS: Results suggested that a 4-class solution was the most parsimonious based on global fit indices and clinical relevance. The 4 classes identified were: 1) low relapse, 2) high depression and moderate pain, 3) high pain, and 4) high relapse. Odds ratios for time-to-first use indicated no statistically significant difference in time to relapse between the high pain and the high depression classes, but all other classes differed significantly. CONCLUSION: This is the first longitudinal study to characterize the influence of pain, depression, and relapse in patients receiving buprenorphine and naloxone treatment. These results emphasize the need to monitor the influence of pain and depression during stabilization on buprenorphine and naloxone. Future work may identify appropriate interventions that can be introduced to extend time-to-first prescription opioid use among patients.

Momentary assessment of everyday physical pain in outpatients with borderline personality disorder.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe psychiatric disorder associated with dysregulation in multiple domains of functioning. Physical health, and specifically pain, is one such domain that has gone understudied. Although evidence suggests that BPD is associated with chronic pain, few studies have examined nonchronic pain in the disorder. The current study used ambulatory assessment to examine momentary physical pain in everyday life in BPD outpatients (N = 26) and community comparisons (COM; N = 26) not in treatment for chronic pain (Nobservations = 5,458). We predicted and observed that BPD outpatients would report greater pain intensity and greater pain variability than COM comparisons. We also examined the relationship of pain and emotion dysregulation, a core feature of BPD, by testing the association between pain and negative affect concurrently and lagged over time. We predicted that momentary pain and negative affect would be associated in both groups, but that pain would predict negative affect more strongly in the BPD group. As predicted, concurrent pain and negative affect were associated in both groups, and groups differed significantly in terms of the association of lagged pain and next-assessment negative affect, with a negative association in the COM group. The current study represents a preliminary first step, finding that pain is relevant to the everyday experience of BPD individuals. This pain propensity may contribute to the elevated prevalence of BPD in chronic pain samples. Further, BPD individuals demonstrated emotional reactivity to pain, suggesting that pain may be a contributor to emotion dysregulation in this disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Affective instability: measuring a core feature of borderline personality disorder with ecological momentary assessment.

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA; Stone & Shiffman, 1994) was used to characterize and quantify a dynamic process--affective instability in borderline personality disorder (BPD). Sixty outpatients (34 with BPD and affective instability; 26 with current depressive disorder but not with BPD or affective instability) carried electronic diaries for approximately 1 month and were randomly prompted to rate their mood state up to 6 times a day. Results indicated that BPD patients (a) did not report significantly different mean levels of positive or negative affect; (b) displayed significantly more variability over time in their positive and negative affect scores; (c) demonstrated significantly more instability on successive scores (i.e., large changes) for hostility, fear, and sadness than did patients with depressive disorders; and (d) were more likely to report extreme changes across successive occasions (>or=90th percentile of change scores across participants) for hostility scores. Results illustrate different analytic approaches to quantifying variability and instability of affect based on intensive longitudinal data. Further, results suggest the promise of electronic diaries for collecting data from individuals in their natural environment for purposes of clinical research and assessment.

Drinking motives as mediators in the relation between personality disorder symptoms and alcohol use disorder.

Research shows high comorbidity between Cluster B Personality Disorders (PDs) and Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs). Studies of personality traits and alcohol use have identified coping and enhancement drinking motives as mediators of the relation among impulsivity, negative affectivity or affectivity instability, and alcohol use. To the extent that certain PDs reflect extreme expression of these traits, drinking motives were hypothesized to mediate the relation between PD symptoms and presence/absence of an alcohol use disorder (AUD). This hypothesis was tested using a series of cross-sectional and prospective path models estimating the extent that coping and enhancement drinking motives mediated the relation between cluster A, B, and C PD symptom counts and AUD diagnosis among a sample of 168 young adults between ages 18 and 21. Enhancement motives mediated the cross-sectional relation between Cluster B symptoms and AUD. Prospectively, enhancement motives partially mediated the relation between Cluster B personality symptoms and AUD through the stability of Year 1 AUD to Year 3 AUD. Results suggest that enhancement motives may be especially important in understanding the relation between Cluster B personality disorders and AUDs.

Borderline personality disorder features and drinking, cannabis, and prescription opioid motives: Differential associations across substance and sex.

INTRODUCTION: Drinking motives have shown meaningful associations with borderline personality disorder (BPD) features. However, it is unknown whether other common substances of abuse (namely cannabis and prescription opioids) have the same associations with BPD features. In the present study, we tested associations between BPD features and motives across three substances: alcohol, cannabis, and prescription opioids. The purpose of the study was to determine whether BPD showed similar patterns of associations across drugs, or whether some substances serve particular functions for individuals with BPD features, and whether this also varies by sex in a college student sample. METHOD: Five-hundred ninety-four college students completed online questionnaires measuring demographics, borderline personality disorder features, substance use, and substance specific motives for alcohol, cannabis, and prescription opioid use. RESULTS: BPD was most strongly associated with coping motives across all substances. For both alcohol and cannabis, this was true for both males and females, along with conformity motives. For prescription opioids, coping, social, enhancement, and pain motives were only significantly related to BPD features for females. When compared statistically, it was found that the associations with coping drinking motives and opioid pain motives were higher among females. CONCLUSIONS: This pattern of results suggests that negatively reinforcing motives (coping and conformity) play a similar functional role in borderline personality and substance use disorder pathology for alcohol and cannabis, but for prescription opioids the negative reinforcement motives (coping and pain) were only evident in females.

Accounting for the association between BPD features and chronic pain complaints in a pain patient sample: The role of emotion dysregulation factors.

Although borderline personality disorder (BPD) features consistently show strong relations with chronic pain, the mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. BPD is characterized by dysregulated emotion. Given previously observed relationships between emotion dysregulation and pain, we hypothesized that components of this dysregulation-elevated and labile negative affect and emotion sensitivity-would account for the relationship between BPD features and various pain complaints in a chronic pain patient sample. Specifically, we hypothesized that negative affect would indirectly predict pain through higher emotion sensitivity to pain, operationalized as pain anxiety sensitivity. To test these hypotheses, we administered a series of self-report measures to 147 patients at a chronic pain treatment facility. As expected, BPD features predicted pain severity (ß = .19, p = .029), activity interference from pain (ß = .22, p = .015), and affective interference from pain (ß = .41, p < .001). Using path analyses, we found that the associations between BPD features and pain severity and interference were accounted for by serial indirect pathways through affective lability then pain anxiety and, to a lesser extent, through trait anxiety then pain anxiety. This is the first study to demonstrate roles for affective lability and pain anxiety sensitivity in the association between BPD features and chronic pain complaints in a chronic pain sample. We discuss implications for the relationship between dysregulated emotion and pain as well as for psychologically-focused treatment interventions for pain. (PsycINFO Database Record

The role of affective instability and impulsivity in predicting future BPD features.

Models of borderline personality disorder (BPD) suggest that extreme levels of affective instability/emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, or the combination of these two traits account for the symptoms characteristic of BPD. The present study utilized longitudinal data to evaluate the ability of Personality Assessment Inventory-Borderline Features (PAI-BOR; Morey, 1991) subscale scores to predict BPD features two years later as a test of these models of BPD. Participants were 156 male and 194 female young adults who completed the PAI-BOR at age 18 and again two years later. Three models were compared: (a) Wave 1 affective instability scores predicting Wave 2 BPD features (AI model); (b) Wave 1 self-harm/impulsivity scores predicting Wave 2 BPD features (IMP model); and (c) both Wave 1 affective instability and self-harm/impulsivity scores predicting Wave 2 BPD features (AI-IMP model), all controlling for stabilities and within-time covariances. Results indicated that the AI model provided the best fit to the data, and improved model fit over a baseline stabilities model and the other models tested. These results are consistent with Linehan's theory (1993) that emotional dysregulation drives the other BPD symptoms.

Personality disorder symptoms, drinking motives, and alcohol use and consequences: cross-sectional and prospective mediation.

Research shows high comorbidity between Cluster B personality disorders (PDs) and alcohol use disorders (AUDs). Studies on personality traits and alcohol use have identified coping and enhancement drinking motives as mediators in the relations among impulsivity, affective instability, and alcohol use. To the extent that PDs reflect extreme expression of these traits, drinking motives should mediate the relation between PD symptoms and alcohol involvement. This was tested using path models estimating the extent to which coping and enhancement drinking motives mediated the relation between Cluster B symptom counts and alcohol use and problems both concurrently and at a 5-year follow-up. Three hundred fifty-two adults participated in a multiwave study of risk for alcoholism (average age = 29 years at Wave 1). Enhancement motives mediated (a) the cross-sectional relation between Cluster B symptoms and drinking quantity/frequency, heavy drinking, total drinking consequences, dependence features, and AUD diagnosis and (b) the prospective relation to AUDs. Although coping motives mediated the relation between Cluster B symptoms and drinking consequences and dependence features cross-sectionally, prospective effects were limited to indirect effects through Time 1.

Dimensional models of personality disorder: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition and beyond.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: We describe several dimensional models of personality disorders and highlight future directions for the integration of dimensional approaches in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V). This review is timely and relevant, given the upcoming revision of DSM (DSM-V). RECENT FINDINGS: Research has identified four common higher order factors that could be used to characterize personality pathology. Evidence supports the inclusion of this dimensional representation of personality disorders in DSM-V, possibly as an adjunct to the traditional categorical classification scheme. A dimensional approach would ameliorate many of the problems associated with the categorical approach. Issues that still need to be addressed are on how to integrate these dimensions into the current classification system in a way that they will be accepted by clinicians and psychopathologists. The clinical utility of the dimensional models must be demonstrated, and the development of a method that combines trait elevations and impairment associated with personality pathology is needed in order to define personality disorder from a dimensional perspective. SUMMARY: Although there may be some initial resistance to the incorporation of the dimensional models in the future diagnostic manuals, researchers and clinicians are expected to benefit from the more reliable and valid portrayal of personality pathology.

Impulsivity and risk for prescription opioid misuse in a chronic pain patient sample.

Misuse of, and addiction to, prescription opioid pain relievers is a growing concern, in both non-clinical samples and chronic pain patients receiving opioid analgesic therapy. Research is needed to identify which patients may be more prone to misuse or dependence on opioids in a chronic pain treatment setting. Based on literature showing the role of impulsivity in substance use disorders generally, we predicted that impulsivity may also be important to understanding which individuals may be at risk for opioid misuse when opioids are prescribed for pain. The present study examined associations between impulsivity facets and measures of prescription opioid misuse and symptoms. Four facets of impulsivity were examined: urgency, sensation seeking, lack of premeditation, and lack of perseverance. 143 patients receiving treatment for chronic pain at a regional pain clinic completed a series of questionnaires including the UPPS and measures of opioid risk and misuse. Consistent with predictions, urgency was associated with risk for future misuse (ß=0.246, p<0.05), current misuse (ß=0.253, p<0.01), and symptoms of current opioid use disorder (OUD; ß=0.206, p<0.05). Sensation seeking was also associated with current misuse (ß=0.279, p<0.01). These results suggest that identifying facets of impulsivity is important to understanding and assessing for risk of prescription opioid misuse in the context of chronic pain treatment. These data indicate that patients who react impulsively to negative mood states and cravings may be especially prone to developing aberrant use patterns when taking prescription opioids. This is the first known study to identify the role of urgency in predicting risk for OUDs in chronic pain patients.

Constructing something funny: levels of associative connection in Tom Swifties.

In the present study, redundancy (low, medium, or high association between the adverb and sentence content) and contextual connection (presence vs. absence of a meaning-based connection between the adverb and other information in the sentence) were manipulated systematically in Tom Swifties (single-sentence wordplays in which a pun is based on the adverb at the end of the sentence). Sixty-nine university students provided ratings of each Swifty's humorousness, cleverness, and coherence and of their reactions to each (tendency to smile, laugh, and groan). Added context led to greater perceived coherence. In keeping with optimal level of arousal arising from resolution of incongruity, an inverted-U redundancy effect was obtained for all scales except "groan." The authors suggest that a social setting is a required but not a sufficient condition for a pun to evoke a groan. It also requires material of greater length that includes some build-up, as found in a fable or shaggy-dog story.

Puns and near puns in fables.

In previous research, (L. G. Lippman, K. Bennington, & I. L. Sucharski, 2002; L. G. Lippman & M. L. Dunn, 2000; L. G. Lippman, I. L. Sucharski, & K. Bennington, 2001), the body of the material (one-liners or fables) had been manipulated to increase its contextual connection to the final word or sentence. In the present study, the body of 6 fables remained constant, and only 1-3 words of the final sentences were manipulated. The pun version had dual connections to the story. Final sentences of 2 other versions had the same meaning, only a single connection to the story, but 1 was related acoustically to the pun. University students, instructed to pretend that someone was telling them each story, rated the fables and their reactions. Compared with its acoustic counterpart, the pun version provoked more reported humor reactions. For the nonpun versions, the one related acoustically to the pun yielded reliably greater reported inclination to smile, suggesting that participants may have inferred or created a pun. The groan, as a communication device, is discussed.

Teasing: for superiority or solidarity?

Humor among friends is typically regarded as a means of strengthening friendships. However, there may be a side of humor that is used to compete rather than bond (R. D. Alexander, 1986; C. R. Gruner, 1997). In the present studies, the participants were asked to imagine that they were sitting with a group of mixed-sex peers. One of the group (a same-sex friend) made a comment about the participant. Different groups of participants were told that the remark did or did not involve teasing. While the participants imagined they were the target of the remark, they rated their emotional reactions as well as their perceived relationship with the teaser and the character traits attributed to the teaser. The outcomes from analyses of variance of perceived competitiveness, emotional responses, and expected social outcomes largely supported superiority perspectives of humor.