Personality Disorders Division
Director,
Kim
L. Gratz, Ph.D.
The primary focus of the research within this division is
to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the development and maintenance of
personality disorders and related behaviors, with a particular emphasis on
borderline personality disorder (BPD) and deliberate self-harm. Specifically,
our research examines the underlying role of emotion dysregulation, experiential
avoidance, and distress intolerance in BPD and self-harm behavior. A related
focus is on the application of these findings to the development of innovative
treatments for these conditions.
Current projects within this division include:
- Experimental investigations of emotion dysregulation
and experiential avoidance in BPD
- An experimental investigation of the relationship
between emotional acceptance and willingness among rape survivors; in
particular, this study examines whether an emotional acceptance manipulation
increases emotional willingness among rape survivors
- An experimental investigation of emotional
unwillingness in deliberate self-harm behavior, including the moderating
role of interpersonally-related distress in this relationship; in
particular, this study examines whether exposure to a distressing
interpersonal cue reduces the willingness to tolerate subsequent distress
among self-harming college students
- Further development of an acceptance-based, emotion
regulation group intervention for self-harm behavior among women with BPD
- An experimental investigation of the validity,
markers, and associated consequences of an anxious-avoidant subtype of BPD
- A longitudinal study examining the factors associated
with the development of BPD and related behaviors among children and
adolescents
- Examination of the impact of ethnic/racial background
on the conceptualization and operationalization of emotion dysregulation
Graduate
students working within this division include:
