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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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ferreira, Gabriela C. S., Sanches, Rafael Faria, de Souza Crippa, Jose Alexandre, de Mello, Marcelo Feijo [UNIFESP], Osorio, Flavia L.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)
Repositorio:Repositório Institucional da UNIFESP
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.unifesp.br:11600/53795
Acceso en línea:http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0101-60830000000146
https://repositorio.unifesp.br/handle/11600/53795
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Face
emotion
borderline
personality
psychopathology
Descripción
Sumario: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.