The role of emotional instability in borderline personality disorder: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: The emotional regulation process plays a pivotal role in daily-life functioning, modulating goal-directed and adaptive behavior. Conversely, altering this cognitive function can disrupt self-regulation and bring emotional dysregulation. Emotional instability could represent a core characteristic of BPD, also modulating the BPD symptom's onset. This systematic review aims to summarize the existing literature reporting the role of emotional instability in BPD to better define the role of the impairment of the emotional processes in the onset of the cognitive and behavioral symptoms of this complex mental disorder. METHODS: MEDLINE, Scopus and Web of Science were independently searched for relevant studies. Eligible studies had to be identifiable through database searching, published and accessible. This systematic review was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines. The search period was from 2012 to 14 September 2022. RESULTS: A pool of 120 studies was identified, out of which 11 met the selection criteria and were included. Overall, the studies confirm a relationship between emotional instability and borderline personality disorder. CONCLUSIONS: The evidences retrieved seem to point out the role of the emotional impairment not only in worsening of the disorder, but could also be one of the risk factors for its onset. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12991-023-00439-0.