This document summarizes research on the effects that having a mother with borderline personality disorder (BPD) can have on children. Symptoms of BPD in mothers, such as splitting, low self-efficacy, and difficulty regulating emotions, are linked to poorer outcomes for children including disorganized attachment, aggression, dissociation, and increased risk of developing psychiatric disorders like BPD or PTSD. The inconsistent and self-oriented behaviors of mothers with BPD can also cause children to experience fear of abandonment, shame, and low self-esteem as they develop.
This is a brief presentation regarding Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). It will define what RAD is, recognize the causes of RAD and touch on current treatments. Stay tuned for more of this developing story. The thesis will be published in great detail in about four months.
“Adult Children of Alcoholics" was presented on May 19, 2009 by MaryGrace Fisher, LLMSW, CAAC; Dawn Farm Huron Street therapist. This program provides an overview of beliefs and behaviors that are common to adult children of alcoholics. This program is part of the Dawn Farm Education Series, a FREE, annual workshop series developed to provide accurate, helpful, hopeful, practical, current information about chemical dependency, recovery, family and related issues. The Education Series is organized by Dawn Farm, a non-profit community of programs providing a continuum of chemical dependency services. For information, please see http://www.dawnfarm.org/programs/education-series.
Men's versus Women's Self-Esteem: Influences of Childhood Trauma and Parental...Kamden Strunk
Research presentation by Langston University students with Kamden Strunk on men's versus women's self-esteem, and the influence of childhood trauma and parental devaluation.
This is a brief presentation regarding Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). It will define what RAD is, recognize the causes of RAD and touch on current treatments. Stay tuned for more of this developing story. The thesis will be published in great detail in about four months.
“Adult Children of Alcoholics" was presented on May 19, 2009 by MaryGrace Fisher, LLMSW, CAAC; Dawn Farm Huron Street therapist. This program provides an overview of beliefs and behaviors that are common to adult children of alcoholics. This program is part of the Dawn Farm Education Series, a FREE, annual workshop series developed to provide accurate, helpful, hopeful, practical, current information about chemical dependency, recovery, family and related issues. The Education Series is organized by Dawn Farm, a non-profit community of programs providing a continuum of chemical dependency services. For information, please see http://www.dawnfarm.org/programs/education-series.
Men's versus Women's Self-Esteem: Influences of Childhood Trauma and Parental...Kamden Strunk
Research presentation by Langston University students with Kamden Strunk on men's versus women's self-esteem, and the influence of childhood trauma and parental devaluation.
Resource List The Biological PerspectiveAmerican Psychological .docxdebishakespeare
Resource List: The Biological Perspective
American Psychological Association. (2014). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx
Genetics: Heredity, twin, and adoption studies
· Demirkan, A. A., Penninx, B., Hek, K. K., Wray, N. R., Amin, N. N., Aulchenko, Y. S., Middeldorp, C. M. (2011). Genetic risk profiles for depression and anxiety in adult and elderly cohorts. Molecular Psychiatry, 16(7), 773–783.
· Shyn, S. I., & Hamilton, S. P. (2010). The genetics of major depression: Moving beyond the monoamine hypothesis. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2824618/
· Kendler, K. S., & Myers, J. (2010). The genetic and environmental relationship between major depression and the five-factor model of personality. Psychological Medicine, 40(5), 801–806.
· Elder, B. L., & Mosack, V. (2011). Genetics of depression: An overview of the current science. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 32(4), 192–202.
· Schnittker, J. (2010). Gene-environment correlations in the stress-depression relationship.Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 51(3), 229–243.
· Silberg, J. L., Maes, H., & Eaves, L. J. (2010). Genetic and environmental influences on the transmission of parental depression to children's depression and conduct disturbance: An extended children of twins study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51(6), 734–744.
Biochemical Studies
· France, C. M., Lysaker, P. H., & Robinson, R. P. (2007). The "chemical imbalance" explanation for depression: Origins, lay endorsement, and clinical implications. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 38(4), 411– 420.
· JAMA and Archives Journals. (2009, February 8). Hormone level during pregnancy may identify women at risk for postpartum depression.Science Daily. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090202174820.htm
· The Endocrine Society. (2009, June 29). Symptoms of depression in obese children linked to elevated cortisol. Obesity & Diabetes Week, 151.
· Howland, R. H. (2010). Use of endocrine hormones for treating depression. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 48(12), 13–16.
· Krishnan, V., & Nestler, E. J. (2010). Linking molecules to mood: New insight into the biology of depression. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 167(11), 1305–1320.
· Karg, K., Burmeister, M., Shedden, K., & Sen, S. (2011). The serotonin transporter promoter variant (5-HTTLPR), stress, and depression meta-analysis revisited: Evidence of genetic moderation. Archives of General Psychiatry, 68(5), 444–454.
· Munafò, M. R. (2012). The serotonin transporter gene and depression. Depression and Anxiety, 29(11), 915–917.
· Naninck, E. F. G., Lucassen, P. J., & Baker, J. (2011). Sex differences in adolescent depression: Do sex hormones determine vulnerability?Journal of Neuroendocrinology, 23(5), 383–392.
· Young, E., & Korszun, A. (2010). Sex, trauma, stress hormones and depression. Molecular Psychi ...
Communicating with Depresion - Jazmin SummerlinJazmin Nagorski
This was a presentation I created during my enrollment in Interpersonal Relations (ECHD 4020). This was my result of the assignment which was to choose a topic that affects communication and create a research-based presentation.
Family systems as sites of psychopathology: a critical realist account by David Pilgrim PhD, Professor of Health and Social Policy, University of Liverpool - presented at the BSA Medical Sociology Annual Conference 2014, Aston University.
2. Research shows a mother’s expression of certain symptoms of borderline personality disorder puts their children at risk for developing psychological, behavioral, and social difficulties later on in life.
3. Symptoms Splitting Low self-efficacy Inability to interpret child affect Identity confusion Self-harm or suicidal tendencies Emotion regulation difficulties
5. Possible Effects on Child Disorganized infantile attachment pattern Aggression/defiance Dissociation Role reversal Fear of abandonment Shame Poor emotion regulation Psychiatric disorders such as BPD and PTSD Chronic stress Low self-esteem Confusion
6. References Barnow, S., Spitzer, C., Grabe, H. J., Kessler, C., & Freyberger, H. J. (2006). Individual characteristics, familial experience, and psychopathology in children of mothers with borderline personality disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 45(8), 965-972. Conroy, S., Marks, M. N., Schacht, R., Davies, H. A., & Moran, P. (2010). The impact of maternal depression and personality disorder on early infant care. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 45(3), 285-292. Crittenden, P. M., & Newman, L. (2010). Comparing models of borderline personality disorder: Mothers' experience, self-protective strategies, and dispositional representations. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 15(3), 433-451. Herr, N. R., Hammen, C., & Brennan, P. A. (2008). Maternal borderline personality disorder symptoms and adolescent psychosocial functioning. Journal of Personality Disorders, 22(5), 451-465. Hobson, R. P., Patrick, M. P. H., Hobson, J. A., Crandell, L., Bronfman, E., & Lyons-Ruth, K. (2009). How mothers with borderline personality disorder relate to their year-old infants. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 195(4), 325-330. Hobson, R. P., Patrick, M., Crandell, L., Garcia-Perez, R., & Lee, A. (2006). Personal relatedness and attachment in infants of mothers with borderline personality disorder. Development and Psychopathology, 17(2), 329-347. Macfie, J., & Swan, S. A. (2009). Representations of the caregiver-child relationship and of the self, and emotion regulation in the narratives of young children whose mothers have borderline personality disorder. Development and Psychopathology, 21(3), 993-1011. Newman, L. K., Stevenson, C. S., Bergman, L. R., & Boyce, P. (2007). Borderline personality disorder, mother-infant interaction and parenting perceptions: Preliminary findings. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 41(7), 598-605. Newman, L., & Stevenson, C. (2005). Parenting and borderline personality disorder: Ghosts in the nursery. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 10(3), 385-394. Newman, L., & Stevenson, C. (2008). Issues in infant-parent psychotherapy for mothers with borderline personality disorder. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 13(4), 505-514.
Editor's Notes
Borderline personality disorder is a pervasive disorder which affects all aspects of a person’s life, including parenting skills. Many studies have concluded that untreated women with borderline personality disorder put their children at risk for developing difficulties in both childhood and adulthood.
People with borderline personality disorder (BPD) can have difficulties with “black and white” thinking , or “splitting”. Mothers with BPD can see their children as all “good” or all “bad”. They also can have doubts about their ability to be parents. Because they may have trouble interpreting their own emotions, they tend to be poor at interpreting the emotions and cues of their children. Self-harm, suicidal and para-suicidal ideation and actions are common in BPD. Those with the disorder may also have difficulty regulating emotions such as anger, depression, or anxiety. When a mother expresses these symptoms, she may appear to her child to be inconsistent and unpredictable.
These mothers can express one, a combination, or all of these attitudes during a short time frame. To make things more confusing for the child, the mother may be nurturing and loving at times, also. In some cases, the self-orientation of the mother leads to a “role reversal” in which the child is made the care-taker for the mother.
Children of mothers with BPD may have a “disorganized” attachment to their mothers. They may alternate between clinging to the mother and pushing her away. It can be clearly seen that the effects of having a mother with untreated BPD can be serious and cause problems for a child from infancy through adulthood without intervention. Women who have been diagnosed with BPD should be made aware of the risks to their children that their disorder presents in order to engage in therapy designed to alleviate the symptoms.