Relationship between emotionally unstable personality disorder and remembered parenting style - A pilot study from private tertiary care center

Abstract

Introduction: Emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD) is a type of personality disorder which is characterized by symptoms, such as highly volatile mood, high impulsivity, unstable relationships, and self-harming behavior. Studies indicate that an individual's personality is an outcome of various factors, their parental upbringing being one of the major factors. Materials and Methods: The study aimed at exploring remembered parental style in patients diagnosed with EUPD. Ten patients were recruited from a tertiary care psychiatric hospital, and parental bonding instrument and clinical global impressions scale were administered. Results: The mean age of the patients with EUPD was 28.8 ± 7.77 years, and the mean years of education was found to be 15.4 ± 1.66. Mean age of onset of illness was 23.71 years, and the mean severity score was found to be 4.8. The mean mother's care score was found to be 25.6 ± 7.17 and mother's overprotection score was found to be 11.2 ± 5.53. The mean father's care score was found to be 20 ± 11.28 and father's overprotection score was 12.1 ± 6.38. Conclusions: The study findings reveal involvement of authoritarian parenting style in fathers and neglectful parenting style in mothers in the development of EUPD. However, a more comprehensive study with larger sample size is needed to throw more light over this finding.