Analysis of Interactional Pathology in Families of Women with Borderline Personality Disorder Based on Interviews with Family Therapists

Aim and The purpose of this study was to assess interactional pathologies among couples consisting of a woman with borderline personality disorder based on interviews with family therapists.
Methods and Materials: The research population of this qualitative study consisted of all family specialists in psychological family therapy. The study participants were 12 specialists with experience in psychological family therapy. The subjects were selected through purposive homogeneous sampling method. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The gathered data were analyzed using thematic method in 3 steps of description, reduction, and analysis.
Findings: From the 533 sentences related to interactional pathologies extracted from specialists’ interviews, 133 concepts related to interactional pathology were extracted in open coding. They were summarized into 16 subthemes in axial coding. These subthemes were summarized into the 4 themes of personal pathology effective on couples’ life, social interpersonal communication pathologies, couple interpersonal pathologies, and family interpersonal pathologies.
It can be concluded that the presence of women with borderline personality disorder exposes their family to damages that increase the probability of family disintegration.