Prediction of Self-Injury Behavior in Men with Borderline Personality Disorder Based on Their Symptoms of Borderline Personality and Alexithymia

Background: Understanding psychological factors related to self-injury behaviors in people with borderline personality disorder can be an important step towards identifying the causes and preventing it. Objectives: The current study was conducted to determine the role of symptoms of borderline personality and alexithymia in predicting self-injury behaviors in people with borderline personality disorder. Patients and Methods: The statistical population of the study includes all men with borderline personality disorder, referring to the psychiatric section of ImamSajjad (AS) hospital of Tehran. A total of 94 people were selected by non-probable sampling and were asked to complete Deliberate Self-Harm, Symptoms of Borderline Personality, and Alexithymia questionnaires. Data was analyzed using the Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis by the SPSS-18 software. Results: The results showed that self-injury behaviors have a positive correlation with the total score of Symptoms of Borderline Personality, and hopelessness, impulsivity, stress related dissociative as well as paranoid symptoms, and total score of Alexithymia, difficulty in identifying, difficulty in describing feeling, and external orient thinking style. Also the results of the regression analysis showed that 15% of variance of self-harming behaviors was explained by Symptoms of Borderline Personality and 21% variance of it was explained by Alexithymia. Conclusion: The results showed that Symptoms of Borderline Personality and Alexithymia can play a role in self-harming behaviors of people with borderline personality disorder.