Enhanced 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes' in borderline personality disorder compared to healthy controls.

BACKGROUND: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is partly characterized by chronic instability in interpersonal relationships, which exacerbates other symptom dimensions of the disorder and can interfere with treatment engagement. Facial emotion recognition paradigms have been used to investigate the bases of interpersonal impairments in BPD, yielding mixed results. We sought to clarify and extend past findings by using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), a measure of the capacity to discriminate the mental state of others from expressions in the eye region of the face. METHOD: Thirty individuals diagnosed with BPD were compared to 25 healthy controls (HCs) on RMET performance. Participants were also assessed for depression severity, emotional state at the time of assessment, history of childhood abuse, and other Axis I and personality disorders (PDs). RESULTS: The BPD group performed significantly better than the HC group on the RMET, particularly for the Total Score and Neutral emotional valences. Effect sizes were in the large range for the Total Score and for Neutral RMET performance. The results could not be accounted for by demographics, co-occurring Axis I or II conditions, medication status, abuse history, or emotional state. However, depression severity partially mediated the relationship between RMET and BPD status. CONCLUSIONS: Mental state discrimination based on the eye region of the face is enhanced in BPD. An enhanced sensitivity to the mental states of others may be a basis for the social impairments in BPD.

Symptoms and neurocognition as rate limiters in skills training for psychotic patients.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to replicate findings that neurocognitive capacity in schizophrenia is more predictive of acquisition of social skills than are symptoms. METHOD: Thirty-two hospitalized patients with chronic psychotic disorders were randomly assigned to community reintegration skills training or supportive group therapy. Neurocognitive functioning was assessed before treatment, and symptoms and skill levels were measured before and after treatment. RESULTS: The skills training group showed significantly greater skill acquisition. In a regression model, skill acquisition was predicted by group membership and verbal memory capacity and not by symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: With methodological advances, the authors replicated findings regarding the importance of neurocognition in determining treatment outcome in schizophrenia.