Psychological interventions for family members of people with psychological disorders with emotional dysregulation: Introduction to special section

Abstract

Clinicians working with people suffering from psychological disorders involving emotional dysregulation often focus on treating the patient. To some extent, this is logical given the urgency and severity of the patient's problems. However, caregivers of these patients experience high levels of burden, depression, and other types of distress. Therefore, not caring for family members means first, neglecting these people who are also suffering, and secondly missing the opportunity to help patients from other perspectives focused on the context around them that can be very helpful. Currently, there is growing interest in studying interventions to help relatives of people with severe mental disorders. This special section presents some studies that analyze several variables that may influence the course of treatment, such as the influence of personality traits of parents of people with eating disorders and affective disorders or the family alliance for therapeutic change, and the level of hopelessness in family members of people with borderline personality disorders. Second, empirically supported interventions are presented for psychological disorders involving emotional dysregulation, for example, in relatives of people with borderline personality disorder and eating disorders. It is essential to make progress in the psychological care of people with psychological disorders and we think a good way to do this is to integrate into our clinical practice the possibility of offering skills training and psychoeducation to family members. So far, good results have been obtained, and we believe it is essential to disseminate these interventions among clinicians and researchers.