Background:
Dysfunction in emotional systems has long been emphasized in the theories of borderline personality disorder (BPD); however, there has been a paucity of research exploring the relationship between emotion dysfunction and social functioning in this disorder.
Methods:
This paper reports a selective review of the literature on processing and responding to social stimuli in BPD. The paper begins with a general review of the role of emotion and social behaviour in psychopathology and then focuses more specifically on research in various domains of social cognition and attention in BPD. The neuroanatomical regions that have been implicated in studies of social cognition and BPD are also discussed.
Results:
The integration of results from studies of emotional, neurocognitive and social dysfunctions in BPD can help to identify potential origins and social consequences of BPD and define the way in which various social functions of emotion processing are shaped in this disorder. A gap in the literature concerning early stages of the disorder is identified.
Conclusions:
The observed emotional features of BPD have important negative consequences for daily life functioning. Studies of social cognition in BPD can help to better identify the key factors underpinning these emotional disturbances in BPD. More research is needed, however, in the early stages of the disorder, prior to the effects of chronic stress and recurrent mental state pathology associated with adult forms of BPD, to better evaluate the primacy and core nature of social cognition impairments in BPD.
