Correlations of Impulsivity with Dysfunctional Beliefs Associated with Borderline Personality

Impulsivity has been defined as a predisposition toward reacting quickly and without planning to internal or external stimuli, with no thought to the consequences of these reactions for the impulsive individual or for others (Moeller, Barratt, Dougherty, Schmitz, & Swann, 2001). Whiteside and Lynam's (2001) model of impulsivity identified four dimensions measured by the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale (see also Whiteside, Lynam, Miller, & Reynolds, 2005): (a) Urgency refers to the tendency to experience strong impulses in situations of intense negative or positive emotions (e.g., negative and positive urgency, respectively) to which the individual responds by behaving impulsively in an effort to rid himself of these emotions, regardless of any potential consequences or risk of injury, (b) Lack of Premeditation is the tendency to act without considering the consequences, (c) Lack of Perseverance refers to the difficulty of concentrating on a boring or difficult task, and (d) Sensation Seeking refers to the tendency to enjoy and pursue exciting activities, as well as the willingness to try new experiences that may or may not be dangerous. The UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale has been validated in several clinical populations and its factor structure has been replicated in men and women, adults and adolescents, and in several languages (d'Acremont & Van der Linden, 2005; Van der Linden et al., 2006; Whiteside & Lynam, 2003). The conceptualization of Urgency trait that is dominant in the literature postulates that this trait is an emotion-based disposition and the emergence of individual differences can be identified in the relationship between emotion and behavior (Cyders & Smith, 2008). According to this view, emotion has a primary role in the production of dysfunctional impulsive behaviour associated with Urgency trait. The loss of available cognitive resources and the interference with rational decision-making comes as a consequence of the intensity of the emotions (Cyders & Smith, 2008). This point of view seems in contrast to Beck's cognitive perspective. Beck's cognitive model has been empirically supported for treatment of a variety of Axis I and Axis II disorders (Beck, 2005; Beck & Dozois, 2011; Butler, Chapman, Forman, & Beck, 2006), including disorders associated with marked impulsivity such as borderline personality disorders (Brown, Newman, Charlesworth, Crits-Christoph, & Beck, 2004) and pathological gambling (Fortune & Goodie, 2012). From the perspective of cognitive theory, cognitive distortions and dysfunctional beliefs represent central aspects of the phenomenology of these disorders. Fundamental beliefs or cognitive schemas are deep, unconscious and stable structures that influence our assessment of reality and guide all cognitive processes, from encoding to the selection and expression of behavioral responses. Although Beck's model was not designed to explain impulsive behaviors, several components of the model refer to these behaviors (Ivanoff, Linehan, & Brown, 2001). First, the model posits that when a schema becomes rigid and dysfunctional, it becomes hypervalent, or easily activated by a trivial stimulus. A dysfunctional, hypervalent schema can also become prepotent and inhibit other schemas that are better adjusted to reality. In such a case, the schema can generate an intense emotional response, create attentional biases and decrease the processing of information needed for affective and behavioral regulation. Second, Beck's model views personality as a stable organization composed of different interrelated systems, each composed of several schemas with their own function: cognitive schemas (interpretation), affective schemas (generalization of feelings), motivational schemas (desires), action schemas (preparing the action), and control schemas. Functioning alongside the action system, the "control" system modulates, modifies and inhibits impulses. …