The relation between mindfulness and mentalizing among individuals with borderline personality disorder: A controlled study.
Noa Steinberg, Tom Livni, Rotem Moshe-Cohen, Leeav Sheena-Peer, Shir Ada Basson, Yogev Kivity
Personality disorders October 29, 2026 DOI: 10.1037/per0000790 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Cross-sectional group-comparison study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 153 |
| Population | Adults with borderline personality disorder, psychiatric controls, and healthy controls (51 per group) |
| Measures | Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, Mentalization Scale, Reflective Functioning Scale applied to the Brief Reflective Function Interview |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | The BPD group showed markedly lower dispositional mindfulness than psychiatric and healthy controls (ds = 0.80-2.40). Mentalizing differences were smaller and varied by method: BPD participants scored lower than healthy controls on self-reported mentalizing (d = -0.51) but not psychiatric controls, and observer-rated mentalizing showed no overall group effect, though BPD participants scored lower than psychiatric controls in planned comparisons. Mindfulness was positively associated with self-reported mentalizing but not observer-rated mentalizing (r = .03). |
Abstract
Mentalizing-the capacity to consider mental states-is a core human ability, yet processes related to it remain poorly understood. Mindfulness has been proposed as functionally related to mentalizing, but the nature and direction of this relation remain unclear. Although both are relevant to borderline personality disorder (BPD), research has rarely examined them together. This study examined group differences in and associations between dispositional mindfulness and mentalizing among individuals with BPD, psychiatric controls (PCs), and healthy controls (HCs). Participants were 153 adults (51 per group) completing diagnostic and laboratory assessments. Mindfulness was measured with the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, and mentalizing with the Mentalization Scale and Reflective Functioning Scale applied to the Brief Reflective Function Interview. The BPD group showed markedly lower mindfulness than PCs and HCs (ds = 0.80-2.40, ps < .001). Self-reported mentalizing differences were smaller: BPD participants scored lower than HCs (d = -0.51), but not PCs. Observer-rated mentalizing showed no overall group effect; the BPD group scored lower than PC in planned comparisons. Mindfulness was positively associated with self-reported mentalizing (p < .001), but not with observer-rated mentalizing (r = .03, p = .69). Mindfulness impairments were particularly pronounced in BPD, whereas mentalizing differences were smaller and varied across methods. Self-reported mindfulness and mentalizing were positively associated, underscoring the value of examining directionality and functional relations while explicitly integrating mindfulness into theoretical models of BPD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Comparable studies
Other cross-sectional and survey studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construct Validity of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire in Meditating and Nonmeditating Samples Experienced meditators and nonmeditating comparison groups | 2008 | Cross-sectional study | |
| Neural Correlates of Dispositional Mindfulness During Affect Labeling Adult participants | 2007 | Observational cross-sectional | n = 27 |
| Assessing mindfulness in children and adolescents: Development and validation of the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM). School-aged children and adolescents | 2011 | Cross-sectional validation study | n = 1,413 |
| Mindfulness and self-compassion as predictors of psychological wellbeing in long-term meditators and matched nonmeditators Experienced meditators and demographically matched nonmeditators | 2012 | Cross-sectional study | n = 152 |
| Mechanisms of Action in the Inverse Relationship Between Mindfulness and Psychological Distress Undergraduates | 2008 | Cross-sectional, correlational |