Structural equation modeling of borderline personality disorder and alexithymia: the mediating role of depression and anxiety

Borderline personality disorder is characterized by a loge- pattern of, affect instability, unstable relationships, distorted sense of self, and impulsivity which cost a lot for the health system. The core feature of borderline personality disorder is emotion regulation difficulties and alexithymia is one of emotion regulation difficulties components. Depression and anxiety are variables that are related to borderline personality disorder and alexithymia, as well. This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of depression and anxiety whit alexithymia and borderline personality disorder. The design and the method of study was descriptive correlation and structural equation modeling, respectively. The sample of 429 students of Shahid Beheshti and Science and Culture universities who were selected by convenience sampling from psychology, literature, law and electrical engineering faculties answered the Beck depression inventory-II, Beck anxiety inventory, personality assessment inventory- borderline feature, and alexithymia questionnaire. LISREL and SPSS software were used to analyze the data. Model fit indices (GFI= 0.94, CFI=0.97, RMSEA=0.06) indicate that the model fit well. The findings showed that depression and anxiety mediate alexithymia and borderline personality disorder relationship, in a way that depression and anxiety positively and directly and also alexithymia positively and indirectly could explain borderline personality disorder. The findings have practical implications for clinical psychologists and can be useful in the diagnosis and therapy of borderline personality disorder. Keywords: borderline personality disorder, alexithymia, depression, anxiety