Several studies have shown that patients with BPD have mentalization difficulties (Fonagy et al., 2007) and less coherent autobiographical memories and life stories (Adler et al., 2012; Jørgensen et al., 2012). However, the relation between mentalization and coherence in life stories has not yet been examined in patients with BPD and this was the aim of our ongoing study. 30 patients with
BPD and 30 controls will participate in the study. Mentalization is assessed using both self-report and performance measures (Empathic Quotient, Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 and Mayer, Salovey, Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test). Life stories are assessed by having participants describe up to 10 chapters and rate causal coherence of these chapters. We expect that patients with BPD will
show poorer mentalization and less causally coherent life stories compared to the control group. Furthermore, we expect that a lower ability to mentalize will be related to less coherent life stories.