Surveying Mental Health Professionals' Opinions Regarding Empathy in Adult Women with Borderline Personality Disorder

The focus of this study is how empathy in female patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is perceived by mental health professionals who treat them. The literature reviewed pertaining to potential causes of BPD and past studies focusing on patients with the diagnosis formed the basis for the Likert scale questionnaire that was created for this study. The questions on this questionnaire were split into four categories: empathy, lifestyle instability, negativity, and interpersonal support. The participants of this study were 30 members of APA division 42 (Psychologists in Independent Practice) and Society for Personality and Social Psychology that were contacted via email and provided with a link to the study on Survey Monkey. The data they provided was used to test the two hypotheses for this study: that there would be an inverse correlation between the questions regarding empathy and lifestyle instability, as well as the between the questions regarding negativity and interpersonal support. The results of the data analysis and what they mean for this study and future studies will be discussed in the proceeding chapters.