2. SOD in BPD under Stress
WP2 investigates how acute psychological stress affects self–other distinction in people with borderline personality disorder compared with healthy individuals.
Building on earlier work by the research team showing that stress improves self-other distinction in healthy women while impairing it in men, this study extends that paradigm to a clinical population. Using a within-subject design, 40 female patients with BPD and 40 matched healthy controls will complete three self-other distinction tasks—assessing the motor, cognitive, and emotional domains, following stress induction via the Trier Social Stress Test. Physiological stress responses will be tracked through salivary cortisol and continuous heart-rate monitoring. Based on a tend-and-befriend model of stress response,we predict that healthy controls will show improved self-other distinction after stress, whereas women with BPD will show the opposite pattern, shifting toward a more self-focused, cognitively less demanding style of processing under pressure.
The findings are expected to clarify whether interventions for BPD should specifically target stress regulation as a means of preserving healthy social functioning during emotionally demanding interpersonal situations.
Lead: Laura Van Damme laura.vandamme(at)kuleuven.be
Supervision: Dr. Celine De Meulemeester
