Hypermentalisation & Emotional Responses in Adolescents
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Emotional Reactivity in Adolescents with Mental Health Conditions: The Role of Hypermentalising
IRAS ID
260325
Contact name
Francesca Wood
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 26 days
Research summary
Mental health conditions can impact various domains of an adolescents life, including family, relationships and education. In particular, Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) has been found to significantly impact an individual’s relationships with others and their mood. This is because BPD is thought to increase someone’s sensitivity in social situations, particularly if feeling rejected by others. Research suggests that when people with BPD experience rejection, they ‘hypermentalise’: a process whereby they make extreme assumptions about what is going on in other people’s minds, and often make mistakes about the true meaning behind someone’s words or actions. We know this happens in adults, but this has never been explored in adolescents. However, we think it may play a vital role in their experience of perceived rejection and interactions with others, and subsequently the way they feel and behave. We predict that adolescents who have more BPD traits will hypermentalise more when feeling rejected and in turn become lower in mood. If found, then this will develop our understanding of what is going on psychologically for adolescents during certain social interactions. This may improve treatment pathways for this population, who are often considered ‘hard to treat’. We will be recruiting adolescents who are accessing mental health services in Oxford for low mood and/or anxiety. We hope to recruit teenagers with quite severe BPD traits, and those with milder or no traits. This should help compare their levels of hypermentalising. Each adolescent will be asked to fill in a few questionnaires and take part in an online social media ostracism paradigm where they will be led to believe they are receiving less “likes” than others. This aims to test whether they hypermentalise and experience changes in their mood. The full research proposal for this project has been uploaded as an appendix to this form.
REC name
South Central - Berkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/SC/0276
Date of REC Opinion
10 Jun 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion