title: Hypersensitivity in borderline personality disorder during mindreading.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  One of the core symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is the instability in interpersonal relationships. This might be related to existent differences in mindreading between BPD patients and healthy individuals.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined the behavioural and neurophysiological (fMRI) responses of BPD patients and healthy controls (HC) during performance of the 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes' test (RMET).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mental state discrimination was significantly better and faster for affective eye gazes in BPD patients than in HC. At the neurophysiological level, this was manifested in a stronger activation of the amygdala and greater activity of the medial frontal gyrus, the left temporal pole and the middle temporal gyrus during affective eye gazes. In contrast, HC subjects showed a greater activation in the insula and the superior temporal gyri.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings indicate that BPD patients are highly vigilant to social stimuli, maybe because they resonate intuitively with mental states of others.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Carina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Frick
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kotchoubey
authors.forename: Simkje
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sieswerda
authors.forename: Ramona
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dinu-Biringer
authors.forename: Moritz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Veser
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Essig
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barnow
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*