TY - JOUR
T1 - Borderline personality disorder, metacognition and psychotherapy
AU - D'Abate, Ludovica
AU - Delvecchio, Giuseppe
AU - Ciappolino, Valentina
AU - Ferro, Adele
AU - Brambilla, Paolo
PY - 2020/11/1
Y1 - 2020/11/1
N2 - Background: Deficits in the ability to think about own mental states and that of others (mindreading) are seen as key aspects of borderline personality disorder (BPD), which could sustain BPD symptoms. Interestingly, some studies showed that in BPD patients metacognition is selectively compromised and could improve during treatments. However, empirical findings are inconsistent, and it is debatable whether BPD presents a specific profile of mindreading impairments that could improve during treatments. Methods: We performed a bibliographic research on PubMed, Google Scholar and Scopus of all studies investigating a) the metacognitive functioning in the BPD patients and b) the link between psychotherapy, metacognition improvement and BPD symptomatology. A total of 11 studies met our inclusion criteria and considered metacognition following the definition proposed by Semerari. Results: Overall, the results suggest that BPD metacognitive profile mainly includes difficulties in metacognitive sub-domains of integration, differentiation and mastery. The type of treatment most appropriate to improve metacognitive abilities and reduce symptoms seemed to be a long term treatment and specifically focused on metacognitive deficits. Limitations: Lack of a control group, small sample sizes and heterogeneity in terms of gender, age, comorbidities and other ongoing treatments are the key limits of the original studies reviewed. Conclusions: The results sustain the hypothesis of a selective and specific metacognitive impairment in BPD patients that could improve during treatments together with their symptomatology. However, more studies are needed to further investigate the role of metacognition in the effectiveness of treatments.
AB - Background: Deficits in the ability to think about own mental states and that of others (mindreading) are seen as key aspects of borderline personality disorder (BPD), which could sustain BPD symptoms. Interestingly, some studies showed that in BPD patients metacognition is selectively compromised and could improve during treatments. However, empirical findings are inconsistent, and it is debatable whether BPD presents a specific profile of mindreading impairments that could improve during treatments. Methods: We performed a bibliographic research on PubMed, Google Scholar and Scopus of all studies investigating a) the metacognitive functioning in the BPD patients and b) the link between psychotherapy, metacognition improvement and BPD symptomatology. A total of 11 studies met our inclusion criteria and considered metacognition following the definition proposed by Semerari. Results: Overall, the results suggest that BPD metacognitive profile mainly includes difficulties in metacognitive sub-domains of integration, differentiation and mastery. The type of treatment most appropriate to improve metacognitive abilities and reduce symptoms seemed to be a long term treatment and specifically focused on metacognitive deficits. Limitations: Lack of a control group, small sample sizes and heterogeneity in terms of gender, age, comorbidities and other ongoing treatments are the key limits of the original studies reviewed. Conclusions: The results sustain the hypothesis of a selective and specific metacognitive impairment in BPD patients that could improve during treatments together with their symptomatology. However, more studies are needed to further investigate the role of metacognition in the effectiveness of treatments.
KW - Borderline personality disorder
KW - Clinical symptomatology
KW - Metacognition
KW - Psychotherapy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089093819&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85089093819&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jad.2020.07.117
DO - 10.1016/j.jad.2020.07.117
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85089093819
VL - 276
SP - 1095
EP - 1101
JO - Journal of Affective Disorders
JF - Journal of Affective Disorders
SN - 0165-0327
ER -