Extant research suggests that borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with impairments in mentalizing, that is, comprehending behavior in terms of underlying mental states. However, the precise nature of these impairments remains unclear. The literature is mixed concerning mentalizing based on external features of others, and specifically facial emotion recognition (FER) in BPD patients. This study investigated FER differences in 79 BPD patients and 79 matched healthy controls using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). The authors also investigated attachment dimensions and childhood trauma in relation to mentalizing based on external features. Results showed that BPD patients performed worse on positive and negative emotions. Furthermore, avoidant attachment was negatively related to FER for neutral emotions, particularly in the control group. Trauma was negatively related to FER at trend level, particularly in BPD patients. The implications for this understanding of mentalizing based on external features in BPD are discussed.

中文翻译：

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与健康对照相比，基于边缘人格障碍的外部特征进行的心理思考：依恋维度和儿童创伤的作用。

现有的研究表明，边缘性人格障碍（BPD）与心理障碍有关，即从基本的心理状态理解行为。但是，这些损害的确切性质仍不清楚。关于基于他人的外部特征进行心理化的文献很多，尤其是针对BPD患者的面部情绪识别（FER）。这项研究使用“阅读眼神测试”（RMET）调查了79位BPD患者和79位匹配的健康对照者的FER差异。作者还研究了基于外部特征与心理化有关的依恋维度和儿童期创伤。结果显示，BPD患者在正面和负面情绪上表现较差。此外，回避依恋与中性情绪的FER呈负相关，尤其是对照组。在趋势水平上，创伤与FER呈负相关，尤其是在BPD患者中。讨论了这种对基于BPD外部特征进行心理思考的理解的含义。