Impairments of Social Cognition in Borderline Personality Disorder as an Important Target of Psychotherapy

Abstract

The article provides a brief overview of modern research on the impairments of social cognition in borderline personality disorder (BPD), as well as the data from a comparative empirical
study of impairments of social cognition in patients with BPD and in a populationMbased sample. It discusses the particular characteristics of impairments of social cognition in BPD and the
consequent targets of psychotherapy.
Objective and methods. A total of 87 people was examined, including 37 patients diagnosed with ICDM10: F 60.31 ‘emotionally unstable personality disorder, borderline type’, and 50
people from a populationMbased sample, by virtue of three methods complex: The Personality beliefs questionnaire in borderline personality disorder (PBQMBPD), the “Reading the Mind in the
Eyes” test (Eyes test), and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) scale.
Results. The study revealed that, although the number of errors made while identifying the mental state of a person in the eyes does not differ in clinical and populationMbased samples, the
type of errors in patients with BPD has certain particular characteristics: they are more prone to negative interpretations. It is demonstrated that patients with BPD assess themselves as
more inclined to show empathic care and prone to a higher level of distress when facing situations where other people experience strong negative emotions. The revealed links between the
features of the BPD and the indicators of empathy enable us to make assumptions about the mechanism of its impairments.
Conclusions. The conclusion is made that the targeted psychotherapy with negative interpretations is required for patients with BPD, as well as a decrease in the general stress level
during the communication process.