Mentalization and embodied selfhood in Borderline Personality Disorder

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Aberrations in self-experience are central to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).
• Existing etiological models, like mentalization-based approaches, often lack explicit articulation of the self-concept.
• Current theories frequently overlook embodied experience, focusing on narrative identity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel hypothesis integrating embodied experience into the understanding of BPD.
• To introduce the concept of

Main Methods:

• Theoretical integration of phenomenological, developmental, and neurobiological perspectives.
• Focus on early intersubjective infant-caregiver interactions.
• Hypothesizing impairments in "embodied mentalization" and minimal embodied selfhood.

Main Results:

• Disordered self and interpersonal functioning in BPD may arise from deficits in embodied mentalization.
• Alterations in the first-person experience of being an embodied subject are foundational.
• The proposed model offers a framework to connect diverse findings in BPD research.

Conclusions:

• Impairments in embodied mentalization offer a new perspective on the etiology of BPD.
• This approach can reconcile phenomenological, developmental, and clinical observations.
• The hypothesis aligns with contemporary neuroscience, suggesting a biological basis for altered self-experience in BPD.