The Still-Face: A Greater Challenge for Infants of Mothers With Borderline Personality Disorder

The main aim of this study was to ascertain whether infants as young as 3 months of age, whose mothers suffer from borderline personality disorder (BPD), are already at risk of greater dysregulation than infants of mothers without BPD when faced with a minor stressful experience. Nineteen mothers diagnosed with BPD and 41 controls with no history of psychopathology and their 3-month-old infants were observed using Tronick's Face-to-Face Still-Face paradigm. The authors found that infants whose mothers have BPD express less positive vocalizations and less nonautonomic self-regulation than infants of mothers with no psychopathology. The stress of the Still-Face episode affects their gaze and self-regulation behaviors more strongly than those of infants of controls. The Reunion episode seems particularly challenging for mothers with BPD, who show fewer smiles and an increase in intrusive behavior. Because infants and their mothers with BPD are already dysregulated at 3 months postpartum, envisaging very early intervention seems warranted.