Are People With BPD Better Able To "Read" Others?
In the 1970's and 1980's, a few borderline personality disorder (BPD) researchers proposed that individuals with BPD are unusually sensitive to other people's emotional states, a phenomenon called "borderline empathy." This hypothesis sparked several research studies examining whether people with BPD are better able to "read" others, with mixed results. Some studies demonstrated that people with BPD were more sensitive to others' emotional states, while others did not find evidence for borderline empathy.
However, a recent study adds another twist-- researchers paired people with BPD with non-BPDs, and compared how well each member of the pair could "read" the other's internal state. At first glance, it appeared that the people with BPD were more empathic than their partner. However, further analysis suggested that this effect was probably due to the fact that the person with BPD was more difficult to read, not that they were reading their partner better.
Clearly, more work is needed to fully understand whether "borderline empathy" exists. What do you think? Are people with BPD more sensitive to the internal states of other people?
Source:
Flury JM, Ickes W, Schweinle W. "The Borderline Empathy Effect: Do High BPD Individuals Have Greater Empathic Ability? Or Are They Just More Difficult To 'Read?'." Journal of Research in Personality, 42:312-332, April 2008.
Comments
Are people with BPD more sensitive to the internal states of other people?
I have been in a relationship with a woman with BPD for two years. I had to end it because of all of the drama that kept getting stirred up. My personal opinion is yes, she did have an enhanced innate ability to empathize with others. The problem comes with how it is used. She used it as a weapon. She would empathize with you in order to obligate you to empathize with her. I didn’t need or desire all of the “empathy” that she sent my way but I got it nonetheless. It came with a high price tag. I had to then spend countless hours trying to empathize with her and fill the bottomless pit of despair of which she was constantly teetering on the edge. She needed the rush of emotions she could get from you once you were as upset as she was. She needed… and I mean NEEDED to feel that emotion from you to know that she was real. It’s the only thing that brought her relief from the emptiness that she usually felt.