title: Normal mind-reading capacity but higher response confidence in borderline personality disorder patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by a pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships. Therefore, the investigation of social cognition is of compelling interest for the understanding of BPD. One important aspect of social cognition is theory of mind (ToM), which describes the ability to understand others' mental states, such as beliefs, desires and intentions. The aim of the present study was to further investigate ToM in BPD patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test was assessed in 31 BPD patients and 27 healthy controls. In addition, the test was complemented by a response confidence rating.
  
  
  RESULTS
  BPD patients and healthy controls did not differ in their mind-reading ability with respect to accuracy, but patients were significantly more often highly confident in their decisions than controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overconfidence might contribute to the severe difficulties in interpersonal relationships often observed in BPD patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. l.schilling@uke.uni-hamburg.de
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schilling
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wingenfeld
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Löwe
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moritz
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Terfehr
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Köther
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Spitzer
mesh_terms: D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003657:Decision Making; D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D056345:Theory of Mind