Borderline personality disorder subtypes and public stigma

Abstract

Despite high public stigma towards individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD), no research has examined whether stigma differs among the various proposed BPD subtypes. The primary purpose of this research was to examine two potential contributors to stigma towards individuals with BPD: 1) gender, and 2) BPD subtype of the individuals. The three subtypes utilized in this study were emotional, low anxiety, and inhibited (Sleuwaegen, 2018). A total of 415 participants read 1 of 6 randomly assigned vignettes about an individual and then completed the Attribution Questionnaire which encompasses 6 aspects of stigma. Male individuals (featured in a vignette) led to greater overall and 5 aspects of stigma than female individuals. Higher public stigma was also expressed towards individuals with the emotional subtype for overall and 4 aspects of stigma than the other subtypes. The aggression portrayed in the emotional subtype may be a particularly worthy area of investigation, given the potential for over-appraisal of threat to one's personal safety. The findings here suggest that accurate portrayals of BPD need to be infused in education or contact anti-stigma interventions.