Both studies revealed an overall deficit of cognitive empathy in patients with BPD.
People with BPD score low on cognitive empathy but high on emotional empathy. This suggests that they do not easily understand other peoples' perspectives, but their own emotions are very sensitive. This is important because it could align BPD with other neurodiverse conditions.
Those with borderline personality disorder, or BPD, a mental illness marked by unstable moods, often experience trouble maintaining interpersonal relationships. New research indicates that this may have to do with lowered brain activity in regions important for empathy in individuals with borderline personality traits.
Cognitive deficits are common in borderline personality disorder (BPD) and appear to be associated with psychopathology, functioning and outcome. The availability of a cognitive screening instrument could be of use in clinical settings in order to assess neurocognition in BPD patients.
Early evidence indicated that outpatients with BPD, compared to non-psychiatric controls, have crucial deficits in the important domains of emotional intelligence including self-awareness, control of emotions, motivating oneself, and empathy [4,5,6,7,8].
Many individuals with BPD are highly intelligent and are aware that their reactions may seem strong. These individuals often report feeling that emotions control their lives or even that they feel things more intensely than other people.
Intellectual disability, formerly called mental retardation (MR) is defined as having an IQ score below 70 whereas an IQ score in the range of 71–84 is termed as “borderline intellectual functioning”.
A person with BPD is highly sensitive to abandonment and being alone, which brings about intense feelings of anger, fear, suicidal thoughts and self-harm, and very impulsive decisions. When something happens in a relationship that makes them feel abandoned, criticized, or rejected, their symptoms are expressed.
Within borderline personality disorder, lack of appropriate social skills, empathy, manners, conflict resolution and self-care may all be demonstrated.
BPD has been linked to the amygdala and limbic systems of the brain, the centres that control emotion and, particularly, rage, fear and impulsive automatic reactions.
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is associated with an assortment of characteristics that undermine interpersonal functioning. A lack of empathy is often cited as the primary distinguishing feature of NPD.
Many people feel that their loved ones or relatives with symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) don't care how they feel because it is often not present in their behavior. This is because one frequent feature of those who experience symptoms of BPD is very weak empathy.
People with borderline personality disorder experience an unstable perception of themselves, which might cause them to feel unlovable. They also experience splitting, a type of all-or-nothing thinking1 which can cause them to see themselves in an extremely negative light.
People with BPD are often affected by several types of distorted thinking. Some ways that a person with BPD thinks include having paranoid ideation, dichotomous thinking, and dissociation. If you believe that you might be experiencing thinking associated with BPD, talk to your doctor.
Once upset, borderline people are often unable to think straight or calm themselves in a healthy way. They may say hurtful things or act out in dangerous or inappropriate ways.
Common signs of low-functioning BPD include: Suicidal ideation. Self-harming. Impulsive and dangerous behaviors, like using drugs or having unprotected sex.
Research shows that those with BPD may have low expectations for their social partners that they can't adjust upward when others show interest. Focusing on the expectations, not just the experiences, would seem to be the key to ensuring stable and fulfilling interactions.
Bold – Impulsivity is a BPD trait that can be positively linked to being bold, courageous and having the ability to speak one's mind. Creative – The high intensity of emotions can be released into creative endeavours. Many people with BPD put their entire emotional expression into music, art, performance and writing.
Many people who live with borderline personality disorder don't know they have it and may not realize there's a healthier way to behave and relate to others.
BPD Triggers Loneliness and Isolation
It may spring from your fear of being rejected or abandoned. This fear can make you feel lonely, even when you have a partner or loving family. Also typical with borderline personality is co-occurring mental illness. One of the most common is depression.
Thus, emotional dysregulation of BPD meant as a combination of high sensitivity to emotional stimuli, elevated stated of arousal, and a low return to emotional baseline, shaped by social context, can impair the ability to read other people's mental states [7].
People with BPD are often hypersensitive to non-verbal cues. They may interpret eye contact differently, often perceiving it as threatening or invasive. This hypersensitivity can lead to heightened anxiety during interpersonal interactions, causing individuals with BPD to avoid eye contact.
Recent Findings: In trust appraisal paradigms, people with BPD have a bias to rate others as untrustworthy. In behavioral exchange games, they report lower trust in partners and are more likely to rupture cooperation.
Stanlenheim and Von Knorring [7] suggested that borderline personality disorder was even closer to psychopathy than antisocial personality disorder, since APD is mainly limited to behavioral alterations, whereas BPD presents affective and interpersonal deficits in the same line as psychopathy.