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• The main characteristics of borderline personality disorder (BPD) are inconsistency in interpersonal relationships, self-concept, emotions, and impulsivity.
• Two basic components of BPD psychopathology are mental pain and difficulty in emotion regulation.
• Mental pain is a negative sense of self due to losses and trauma.
• High levels of mental pain, depression, negative dimensions of self-compassion, and frequent use of maladaptive cognitive strategies of emotion regulation correlate with the severity of BPD symptoms.

Plain Language Summary 
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a common personality disorder that causes many problems in important areas of life, such as interpersonal and family relationships. BPD is associated with difficulty in regulating emotion, self-harm behaviors such as suicide attempts and self-injury, impulsivity, and problems in identity structure. BPD may be due to traumatic experiences and maladaptive attachment styles in childhood, interpersonal sensitivity, difficulties in social cognition, and irregularities in emotion regulation. Different factors can play a role in the severity of the symptoms these people experience. This study aims to predict BPD symptoms based on cognitive emotion regulation, mental pain, depression, and self-compassion in a nonclinical sample. The severity of mental pain, depression, and using maladaptive cognitive strategies of emotion regulation such as catastrophizing, self-blame, other blame, and rumination are associated with increased symptoms. Also, the lower the self-compassion components, such as common humanity, self-kindness, and mindfulness, the more severe the symptoms of BPD. Different treatments, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, dialectical therapy, schema therapy, and mentalization-based therapy, can reduce the severity of symptoms in these people.