Accuracy and Bias in Facial Trustworthiness Appraisals in Borderline Personality Disorder.

Individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) have shown a negativity bias, whereas the general population has shown a positivity bias in their trustworthiness appraisal of others. We tested if individuals with BPD are more negative but also more realistic with their appraisals. Trustworthiness was objectified on an external criterion. The influence of childhood trauma was investigated. Facial photographs of peace prize laureates and sentenced murderers were presented. Participants with BPD and healthy controls (HC) rated the trustworthiness of the targets. Bias and sensitivity were measured using signal detection theory. The BPD group was more negatively biased compared to HC, but not more sensitive in discriminating between the two groups. When correcting for experienced childhood abuse and neglect, the authors found that group differences in bias disappeared. Individuals with BPD might not be more sensitive in discriminating between, on average, more or less trustworthy targets, but they have developed a negativity bias to ensure the detection of untrustworthiness.

Examining the strategy-situation fit of emotion regulation in everyday social contexts.

The strategy-situation fit hypothesis suggests that emotion regulation strategies are only beneficial to mental health if they meet contextual demands. Previous studies support this assumption but focused on properties of the emotional stimulus and reported cross-sectional associations with mental health, thus neglecting the social context and long-term mental health outcomes. To address these limitations, we examined (1) whether reappraisal, social sharing, and suppression varied depending on the social context (i.e., being alone, among close others, or nonclose others) and (2) whether specific strategy-context associations were linked to current, and (3) long-term mental health. The study consisted of two ecological momentary assessment (EMA) periods, separated by one year, and the second period occurred during COVID-19-related governmentally imposed social restrictions. This design allowed us to examine emotion regulation following social context changes. Our results indicate that emotion regulation varied by the social context. Reappraisal was used more frequently when being alone, suppression occurred more among nonclose others, and social sharing increased with close others. Regarding current mental health, more suppression was linked to higher depressive symptoms only when used in the presence of close others. In contrast, using suppression when being alone was linked to lower depressive symptoms. Finally, analyses with long-term outcomes revealed improved mental health when participants increased their use of reappraisal when being alone, and decreased reappraisal after a higher presence of close others. These findings could reflect the unique regulatory costs and benefits of different social situations and highlight the role of context-specific reappraisal for longer-term adaptiveness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

False memory in posttraumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) have been associated with an increased generation of false memories. We aimed to disentangle disorder-specific false memory in individuals with PTSD and BPD using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. It measures the tendency to mistakenly remember stimuli that are associated with actually presented material, but have not been presented. Participants with BPD without comorbid PTSD (n = 32), participants with PTSD without comorbid BPD (n = 28), and mentally healthy controls (HC, n = 30) were given a word recognition test after hearing neutral, emotionally negative, BPD-related and PTSD-related word lists. Compared to HC, participants with PTSD showed fewer false memories for neutral word material and no other differences. Participants with BPD showed no differences in false memory formation compared to HC, only more false memories for a BPD-related and a PTSD-related word list compared to PTSD. Our results indicate, that in the absence of BPD, increased false memory in PTSD cannot be observed. In addition, our findings do not suggest that individuals with BPD and HC differ in their false memory formation. More trauma-individualized material should be used in future studies on false memory in PTSD.

Characterizing Couple Dysfunction in Borderline Personality Disorder.

Relationship dysfunction is a key criterion of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Nevertheless, little is known about the characteristics of romantic relationship functioning in BPD. In this study, couples in which the women were diagnosed with BPD (BPD couples) and healthy control couples (HC) were compared in their perceived relationship characteristics (e.g., relationship quality) and interpersonal experience variables (e.g., attachment). The hypothesis was tested that insecure attachment styles account for group differences in relationship characteristics. Variables were measured by self-report. Romantic relationships were appraised as more negative and conflictual by both members of BPD couples compared to HC. The perception of women with BPD was often more negative than that of their male partners, indicating potential biases in BPD patients' relationship evaluation. Insecure attachment styles only partially explained group differences in relationship characteristics, showing that attachment style is one, but not the only predictor of decreased relationship functioning in BPD couples.

Childhood maltreatment and context dependent empathic accuracy in adult romantic relationships.

OBJECTIVES: Childhood maltreatment, that is neglect and abuse, are associated with difficulties in adult relationship functioning. We tested whether childhood maltreatment changes the presence of a relationship protective mechanism, called motivated inaccuracy. It describes a decrease in romantic couples' empathic accuracy, (EA), that is, their correct understanding of the partners' thoughts and feelings, in situations that pose a potential threat to the stability of the relationship. With this, couples seem to protect their relationship stability from their partners' potentially destabilizing mental contents. METHOD: Romantic couples were videotaped while discussing (a) their favorite film-genre (neutral/positive), (b) their most relevant fear of the past year (personally threatening), and (c) a reason that might lead to a break-up in their relationship (relationship-threatening). EA was measured by the overlap between participants' judgments of their partners' feelings and the partners' self-rated actual feeling, using a continuous video rating of the interactions. Childhood neglect and abuse were retrospectively assessed by a questionnaire. RESULTS: Overall, participants decreased their EA for each other in the relationship-threatening versus personally threatening conversation, replicating motivated inaccuracy. However, when individuals with high levels of reported childhood neglect felt threatened by the relationship-threatening condition, they did not show this relationship protective mechanism, that is, they showed maintained EA scores. Abuse in childhood did not influence the presence of motivated inaccuracy. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood neglect might influence adult romantic relationship functioning by leading to a lack of motivated inaccuracy during relationship-threatening situations. An altered threat coping strategy might cause the inability to protect oneself from relationship-threatening information. (PsycINFO Database Record

Emotional dysregulation in borderline personality disorder and its influence on communication behavior and feelings in romantic relationships.

Dysfunction in romantic relationships constitutes one of the most burdensome symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD). The aim of this study was to ascertain how emotional dysregulation affects behavior and relationship related feelings of women with BPD in threatening conversations with their own romantic partner. Thirty couples in which the women were diagnosed with BPD and 34 healthy control (HC) couples were videotaped while discussing personally threatening (i.e., personal failure) and relationship-threatening (i.e., separation) themes. Third party raters evaluated stress and communication behaviors during the conversations. Relationship related feelings, i.e., closeness and relationship insecurity, were assessed by self-report. Overall, women with BPD were rated as more stressed in threatening situations than HC women and their partners, but not more stressed in relationship-threatening than personally threatening situations. A heightened stress response of women with BPD predicted more negative and less positive communication behaviors and a stronger decline in self-rated closeness to the partner compared to HC. Stress-induced increases in relationship insecurity were specific to women with BPD. Our results highlight the central role of emotional dysregulation in interpersonal dysfunctions of persons with BPD and the need to address individual emotion regulation strategies more explicitly in dyadic contexts.

Romantic relationship dysfunction in borderline personality disorder-a naturalistic approach to trustworthiness perception.

Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) suffer greatly from their unstable interpersonal relationships. Studies on explanatory mechanisms driving social dysfunctions in patients' real-life relationships are, however, lacking. Here, we aimed to investigate one of the most central aspects of close relationships, interpersonal trust, in romantic relationships of persons with BPD. We tested the hypothesis that patients with BPD show unstable trustworthiness perception toward their partner, which we expected to be most pronounced after a relationship-threatening situation. Thirty-one heterosexual couples in which the women were diagnosed with BPD and 36 healthy control (HC) couples (total N = 134) each discussed three different topics that where (a) neutral (favorite films), (b) personally threatening (personal fears), and (c) relationship threatening (possible reasons for separation from partner). Trustworthiness appraisal of the partner was assessed after each conversation by self-report. BPD patients did not differ from HC women on trustworthiness perception after the neutral conversation but reported diminished trustworthiness perception after both threatening situations compared to HCs. BPD patients' trustworthiness perception was by trend decreased after the separation versus fear condition. The perceived tenderness in the relationship was a protective factor. The inability to maintain a stable image of a trustworthy partner during threatening situations might lead to difficulties in interpersonal relationships of patients with BPD. Although relationship threats possibly play a particular role in this context, trustworthiness perception decreases are not limited to this kind of threat. (PsycINFO Database Record

Rejection sensitivity is a mediator between borderline personality disorder features and facial trust appraisal.

Individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) fear abandonment and exhibit instability in their close relationships. These interpersonal difficulties may be influenced by the propensity to interpret neutral social stimuli (e.g., nonemotional faces) as untrustworthy. This study evaluated the hypothesis that BPD features are associated with attributions of untrustworthiness to neutral faces. Additionally, the authors hypothesized that the trait of rejection sensitivity (RS) is also associated with BPD features and mediates the relationship between BPD features and untrustworthy facial trait appraisal. An undergraduate, nonclinical sample (N = 95) was assessed for BPD features, RS, and trust appraisal of neutral faces. Higher BPD features were associated with lower ratings of trustworthiness of the faces and higher scores on RS. Furthermore, as hypothesized, the association between BPD features and trust appraisal was mediated by RS. Results are discussed in the context of a proposed model of the social cognitive mechanisms of interpersonal hypersensitivity in BPD.