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Interoception and Its Interaction with Self, Other, and Emotion Processing: Implications for the Understanding of Psychosocial Deficits in Borderline Personality Disorder

  • Personality Disorders (K Bertsch, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

We review evidence for the potential importance of interoception, i.e., the processing of signals arising from inside the body, for deficient psychosocial functioning in borderline personality disorder (BPD).

Recent Findings

Evidence suggests that variability in interoception interacts with higher-order psychological functions such as self, other, and emotion processing. These domains are characteristically impaired in BPD, suggesting a likely causal role of disturbed interoception in the etiology of the disorder. The inability to identify and describe one’s own emotional states represents a proxy of impaired interoception which might further mediate between the perception of inner physiological conditions and psychosocial functioning in BPD.

Summary

There is preliminary evidence explaining how early life stress might adversely affect central interoceptive representation and psychosocial functioning in BPD. Based on these findings and the specific pattern of disturbances in BPD, we propose the crucial role of interoception in an integrated biobehavioral model for BPD.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the ‘Mechanisms of disturbed emotion processing in borderline personality disorder’ project, which receives funding from the Clinical Research Unit program (KFO 256-IP4n, BE 5723/1-2, awarded to RBB) of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The funding source had no involvement in the writing of this article or in the decision to submit the article for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

    Annette Löffler & Robin Bekrater-Bodmann

  2. Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    Jens Foell

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  1. Annette Löffler
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Correspondence to Robin Bekrater-Bodmann.

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Annette Löffler, Jens Foell, and Robin Bekrater-Bodmann declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Löffler, A., Foell, J. & Bekrater-Bodmann, R. Interoception and Its Interaction with Self, Other, and Emotion Processing: Implications for the Understanding of Psychosocial Deficits in Borderline Personality Disorder. Curr Psychiatry Rep 20, 28 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-018-0890-2

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