Cognitive and affective processing of social exclusion in borderline personality disorder and social anxiety disorder.
Causal attributions of social events are crucial for understanding emotional responses. Aim of the study was to identify appraisal processes in response to social exclusion in borderline personality disorder (BPD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD). Twenty-five patients with BPD, 25 patients with SAD and 25 healthy controls played Cyberball, a virtual ball-tossing paradigm that experimentally induces social exclusion. Causal attributions, subjective feelings and action tendencies in response to social exclusion were assessed. Both clinical groups showed more internal attributions and less control attributions than the control group, reported a higher increase in self-focused negative emotions, along with more escape tendencies and less intent to engage in pleasant activities. But only the BPD group reported higher hostile-intent attributions and more aggressive action tendencies compared to healthy controls.
Ambulantes Gesundheitszentrum der Charité, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Department of Psychotherapy, Hindenburgdamm 30, 12203, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: lea.gutz@charite.de.
Lea
L
Gutz
Department of Psychiatry, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Hindenburgdamm 30, 12203, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: Stefan.Roepke@charite.de.
Stefan
S
Roepke
Department of Education and Psychology, Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Freie Universität Berlin, Habelschwerdter Allee 45, 14195, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: b.renneberg@fu-berlin.de.
Babette
B
Renneberg
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D000374:Aggression; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000072861:Phobia, Social / Q000523:psychology*; D012929:Psychological Distance; D012938:Social Perception; D055815:Young Adult
Appraisal theory; Borderline personality disorder; Causal attributions; Social anxiety disorder; Social exclusion