Cycle 8 - Smarter Than BPD - Main Text Quiz

Cognitive Distortions and Self-Blame in Borderline Personality Disorder

• Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) involves difficulties with emotions, behavior, and thought patterns.
• BPD thought patterns tend to be biased and oversimplified, neglecting objective facts relevant to reality.
• Cognitive distortions are a common feature of BPD thought patterns, and they can induce a "vicious circle of thought, feeling, and behavior."
• There are at least ten common cognitive distortions associated with BPD.
• Cognitive distortions can occur in both awake and sleep time, triggered by events, thoughts, or memories.
• Many of the thoughts experienced by a person with BPD may have some association with parts of their past.
• Self-destructive beliefs, such as chronic self-blame, may have developed as a survival mechanism to stay safe from abusive authority figures.
• The assumption of blame may be difficult to overcome in adulthood, even when it is not warranted.
• Being assertive is essential for problem-solving and getting needs met, but it may be difficult for someone with a self-blame belief pattern.
• Chronic self-judgment becomes understandable in maintaining a sense of emotional safety.
• Beliefs, thoughts, emotions, and anxiety are intertwined and influential to health issues like BPD.
• Understanding cognitive distortions and self-blame is crucial for developing strategies to modify the larger BPD pattern of perceptions, thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.