Borderline personality disorder and childhood trauma: Exploring the buffering role of self-compassion and self-esteem.

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) show lower self-compassion and self-esteem than healthy controls and whether patients' self-compassion and self-esteem moderate the association between childhood trauma and the severity of their BPD symptoms.
Method: Self-reported self-compassion, self-esteem, and the current severity of BPD symptoms were assessed in 35 female patients with BPD and 35 age-matched control participants. Further, traumatic childhood experiences were recorded in the patient group.
Results: Patients with BPD reported significantly lower self-compassion and self-esteem compared to healthy controls. In addition, self-compassion but not self-esteem moderated the positive correlation between childhood trauma and the severity of BPD symptoms.
Discussion: Self-compassion appears to buffer the negative consequences of childhood traumatization. Therefore, cultivating self-compassion may be an important therapeutic aim for patients with BPD.
(© 2020 The Authors. Journal of Clinical Psychology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)