Borderline personality disorder and bias in the recognition of facial expressions of emotion: a pathway to understand the psychopathology

Borderline personality disorder and bias in the recognition of facial expressions of emotion: a pathway to understand the psychopathology

Background: The identification of facial emotions is a key skill as it promotes rapid and accurate recognition of emotions and enables better communication and greater social adaptation. More recent studies have suggested that impaired social interactions may be related to deficits in social cogniti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Revista de psiquiatria clínica Vol. 45; no. 1; pp. 7 - 11
Main Authors: Ferreira, Gabriela C.S, Sanches, Rafael Faria, Crippau, Jose Alexandre de Souza, Mello, Marcelo Feijo de, Osorio, Flavia I
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Universidade de Sao Paulo, Facultade de Medicina 01-01-2018
Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo
Subjects:
MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL
PSYCHIATRY
Brasil
borderline
emotion
personality
Face
psychopathology
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Summary:Background: The identification of facial emotions is a key skill as it promotes rapid and accurate recognition of emotions and enables better communication and greater social adaptation. More recent studies have suggested that impaired social interactions may be related to deficits in social cognition and therefore in the recognition of facial expressions, contributing to social disturbance among individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Objective: To present the results of an empirical study assessing the recognition of facial emotion expressions in women with BPD, having as reference a group of healthy women from the general population. Methods: The subjects (40 female with BPD and 40 controls) were assessed with a dynamic task on a computer screen for recognition of facial expressions of emotion. Results: The BPD group had a lower accuracy in perceiving emotions of fear and surprise and slowness in recognising happiness. Logistic regression analyses also identified an association between BPD and higher sensitivity in the recognition of anger. Discussion: Women with BPD made more mistakes in the recognition of negative emotions, which can bias the behaviour and regulation of affective states, favouring in turn the emergence of some typical symptoms associated with BPD. Ferreira GCS et al. / Arch Clin Psychiatry. 2018;45(1):7-11 Keywords: Face, emotion, borderline, personality, psychopathology.
ISSN:0101-6083
1806-938X
1806-938X
DOI:10.1590/0101-60830000000146