A systematic review and meta-analysis of 'Systems for Social Processes' in borderline personality and substance use disorders

Deficits in social processing (SP) have been proposed to underpin interpersonal dysfunction in both Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Substance Use Disorders (SUD). This study aimed to explore potential transdiagnostic cognitive and behavioral phenotypes of these disorders utilizing the NIMH Research Domain Criteria 'Systems for Social Processes'. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the published research was conducted on 134 studies identified through our database searches. Four meta-analyses were conducted, which revealed significant overlapping deficits in the ability to identify facial emotions and infer the mental states of others in both BPD and SUD. Further, people with BPD displayed a higher ostracism effect following perceived social exclusion. Systematically reviewed studies also revealed significant dysfunction amongst individuals with BPD and SUD across both self and other SP constructs, which were broadly similar in magnitude. Taken together, these results support the proposition that SP dysfunction may be considered a core transdiagnostic phenotype of BPD and SUD.

Perceived emotional invalidation and borderline personality disorder features: a test of theory

Contemporary theories of borderline personality disorder (BPD) have detailed the functional importance of emotional invalidation in meaningful relationships as an aetiological and perpetuating factor of its core disturbances. The purpose of our study was to test aspects of Linehan's (1993) biosocial and Fruzzetti (1996) and Fruzzetti, Shenk, and Hoffman's (2005) validation/invalidation family interactions transactional theories in a community sample of 186 participants. Results indicated that a multi-mediational path model of invalidation in meaningful relationships, emotion dysregulation, poor distress tolerance and BPD symptoms provided a perfect fit to the data and accounted for a substantial amount of variance in BPD (38%). The results provided support for these complimentary theories of BPD, which hold promise for clinical applications and future research.