title: Negative evaluation bias for positive self-referential information in borderline personality disorder.
abstract: Previous research has suggested that patients meeting criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD) display altered self-related information processing. However, experimental studies on dysfunctional self-referential information processing in BPD are rare. In this study, BPD patients (N = 30) and healthy control participants (N = 30) judged positive, neutral, and negative words in terms of emotional valence. Referential processing was manipulated by a preceding self-referential pronoun, an other-referential pronoun, or no referential context. Subsequently, patients and participants completed a free recall and recognition task. BPD patients judged positive and neutral words as more negative than healthy control participants when the words had self-reference or no reference. In BPD patients, these biases were significantly correlated with self-reported attributional style, particularly for negative events, but unrelated to measures of depressive mood. However, BPD patients did not differ from healthy control participants in a subsequent free recall task and a recognition task. Our findings point to a negative evaluation bias for positive, self-referential information in BPD. This bias did not affect the storage of information in memory, but may be related to self-attributions of negative events in everyday life in BPD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
authors.forename: Dorina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany; Department of Biomedical Resonance Imaging, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Cornelia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Herbert
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koplin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schmahl
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bohus
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007508:Irritable Mood; D012647:Self-Assessment