Why People With BPD Struggle With Emotional Validation

Why People With BPD Struggle With Emotional Validation BPD Print Why People With BPD Struggle With Emotional Validation By Kristalyn Salters-Pedneault, PhD Kristalyn Salters-Pedneault, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and associate professor of psychology at Eastern Connecticut State University. Learn about our editorial policy Kristalyn Salters-Pedneault, PhD Updated on January 19, 2020 MECKY / Getty Images More in BPD Diagnosis Treatment Living With BPD Related Conditions Individuals with  borderline personality disorder  (BPD) can have very strong  emotional responses  to events that seem minor to outside observers. As a result, people with BPD frequently experience  emotional invalidation, that is, others react to their emotions as if those emotions are not valid or reasonable. Frankly, if you are a friend or family member of someone with BPD, it can be very hard to have a validating response to emotions that seem out of proportion to the situation. But invalidating your loved one’s response probably doesn’t help. What Is Emotional Validation? Emotional validation is the process of learning about, understanding  and expressing acceptance of another person’s emotional experience. Emotional validation is distinguished from emotional invalidation, in which another person’s emotional experiences are rejected, ignored, or judged. A few dominant psychological theories of  borderline personality disorder  (BPD) assert that many people with BPD did not receive sufficient emotional validation over the course of their development (see also “emotionally invalidating environment”), which may be one factor in the development of the  emotion dysregulation  characteristic of the disorder.?? One key to learning to validate others’ emotions is to realize that validating an emotion does not mean that you agree with the other person, or that you think their emotional response is warranted. Rather, you communicate to them that you understand what they are feeling, without trying to talk them out of the feeling or shame them for the feeling. Step 1: Identify and Acknowledge the Emotion When you validate an emotional response, the first step is to acknowledge the emotion that the other person is having. This can be hard if the other person has not clearly communicated their feelings, so you may have to either ask them what they are feeling, or guess and then ask them if you are right. Imagine that your loved one is angry with you. You come home from work, and they are behaving angrily (even if they are not explicitly stating it). If your loved one has already communicated that they are feeling angry, for example, you can just acknowledge that they are feeling that way: “I understand you are angry.” If they haven’t communicated this, but they seem angry, you might say, “You seem really angry. Is that what’s going on?” Step 2: Acknowledge the Source of the Emotion The next step is to identify the situation or cue that triggered the emotion. Ask the person what it is that is causing their response. For example, you might say, “What is it that is making you feel that way?” Your loved one may or may not be able to communicate this clearly. They may not even understand themselves what is going on, or they may be unwilling to articulate what triggered the emotion. In this case, you may just need to acknowledge that something seems to be making them upset, and that you’d like to know what’s going on, but that it’s difficult to without a clear sense of the situation. Step 3: Validate the Emotion Imagine that your loved one is able to communicate the source of their emotion: They respond that they are angry because you are 15 minutes late coming home from work. And perhaps to you, their level of anger seems unwarranted given the situation. You can still validate their feelings by communicating that you accept what they are feeling (even if you don’t follow their reasoning). For example, you might just say, “I know you are feeling angry because I was 15 minutes late coming home. It was not my intention to anger you; I was stuck in traffic. But I can see that waiting for me made you upset.” You do not need to apologize for your behavior if you don’t feel you did anything wrong. But by acknowledging the feelings your loved one is having, you may actually diffuse the situation. Validating Is Not Resignation Keep in mind that validating someone’s emotions does not mean that you resign yourself to be treated poorly. If your loved one is behaving inappropriately or aggressively, removing yourself from the situation is your best bet. Tell them that you want to be able to talk with them about the situation, but that you can’t do that productively until they can communicate with you more calmly, so you’ll return later when it seems like the right time. Validating Won’t Make the Emotion Go Away It is also important to keep in mind that validating your loved one’s emotion usually will not make the emotion go away. It may diffuse the situation, and it will rarely make the situation worse, but that doesn’t mean your loved one is going to feel better right away. Remember that it is not your job to make the feeling go away, although you may choose to be supportive. Rather, acknowledging and validating the person may help them to find their own way to regulate the emotion.