Borderline personality disorder and larger comfortable interpersonal distance in close relationships

Physical distance regulation in interpersonal communications is a key component of the quality of close relationships. This distance is regulated differently in various individuals and psychological states. Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) have been reported to prefer a larger distance. The present study aimed to compare the Healthy Controls (HC) (n = 40) and patients with BPD (n = 36) in terms of the comfortable interpersonal distance when facing different protagonists (including mother, love partner, close friend, childhood self-image and current self-image as significant others, as well as salesperson and thief). All participants in both groups completed modified computerized version of the comfortable interpersonal distance (CID) task in both the passive mode (when protagonists approached them) and the active mode (when they approached protagonists). We asked participants to determine the point at which they felt uncomfortable. The BPD group preferred a significantly larger interpersonal distance than the HC group with all protagonists except the salesperson. We discuss these results in the context of attachment theory. •Preferred comfortable interpersonal distance in individuals with BPD is large.•Individuals with BPD show the largest interpersonal distance with self-image.•Larger interpersonal distance in BPD patients indicate their insecure attachment.•Individuals with BPD have negative working models of self and others.