Evaluations of emotional noninterpersonal situations by patients with borderline personality disorder.
According to cognitive models of borderline personality disorder (BPD), an important cause for the instability of patients with BPD is dichotomous thinking (DT). Object-relation theories assume that the similar phenomenon of splitting is central in BPD. Previous studies focusing on interpersonal situations found support for DT being prominent in BPD. The aim of this study was to investigate whether patients with BPD also make use of dichotomous and schema-specific evaluations in noninterpersonal situations. An experiment was designed in which a frustrating and rewarding situation was induced by computer games that subjects had to play. Participants evaluated both themselves and the games. Patients with BPD (n=24) were characterized by somewhat more extreme game evaluations in the emotionally negative situations than normal controls (n=25), participants with a cluster C (n=10) or an anti-social personality disorder (ASPD) (n=16). Patients with BPD appeared to be characterized best by a general negative evaluative style, more than by DT or splitting. ASPD participants showed a positivity bias in both conditions.
Sieswerda
Simkje
S
Department of Medical, Clinical and Experimental Psychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. simkje.sieswerda@mp.unimaas.nl
Arntz
Arnoud
A
Wolfis
Marionne
M
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012931:Social Environment