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Aim and Background: One of the principal formulations of borderline personality disorder is based on object relations theory and cognitive schemas. The role of cognitive schemas and object relations in personality disorders has been of interest among the researchers and therapists. The present study aimed to determine the relationship between object relations and early maladaptive schemas with borderline personality syndrome among the students of Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Methods and Materials: This was a descriptive correlational research. The statistical population included all the students of Semnan University of Medical Sciences. From them, 310 university students were selected via convenience sampling method. Bell Object Relations Inventory (BORI), Young Schema Questionnaire-Short form (SYQ-SF), and the Claridge and Broks Borderline Personality Questionnaire were administered among the selected sample. The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and Stepwise regression analysis. Findings: There was a significant relationship between object relations and early maladaptive schemas with borderline personality syndrome among the studied students. Regression analysis indicated that among the components of object relations, egocentrism and social incompetence in total explained 23% of the variance of borderline personality syndrome; and among the components of early maladaptive schemas, abandonment, incompetence, defectiveness/shame, self-sacrifice, and emotional inhibition in total explained 36% of the variance of borderline personality syndrome. Conclusions: According to the findings of the research, it can be said that object relations and maladaptive schemas play an important role in the prediction of borderline syndrome; and it seems necessary to consider them for the prevention and treatment of borderline personality.

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Aim and Background: The need to establish intimacy and close relationships with others is considered as a basic and important human motivation. The present study aimed to investigate the role of the quality of object relationships on close relationship experience mediated by the self-differentiation and cognitive emotion regulation.
Methods and Materials: The study was a descriptive-correlational one conducted using Structural Equation Modeling. The population included all people who were married for at least two years and visited psychological and counseling clinics in Mashhad, Iran, from 2020 to 21 due to suffering from matrimonial conflicts. The participants were selected using the convenience sampling technique. Then, 300 questionnaires were distributed among the participants, and 260 questionnaires were gathered. The instruments for data collection included Bell’s Object Relations and Reality Testing Inventory, the cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire, the questionnaire concerning the self-differentiation, and close relationship experience questionnaire. The data were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient and the structural equation modeling.
Findings: The findings showed that the quality of object relationships predicted the rates of close relationship experience (P>0/05). Moreover, the findings showed that the differential of self and negative cognitive emotion regulation played mediatory roles (P>0/05).
Conclusions: Accordingly, both in premarital counseling and in couple therapy sessions, it is vital to determine variables based on psychoanalytic concepts like the quality of object relationships and self-differentiation and adjust interventions based on these concepts.