The Role of Epistemic Credulity and Epistemic Mistrust in Identity and Interpersonal Difficulties

There is growing support for the dimensional classification of personality pathology. As an alternative to categorical diagnostic systems, the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) conceptualises disturbances in identity and interpersonal functioning as core dimensions underlying general personality pathology. Within this framework, impairments in self and relatedness are understood to be closely related yet distinguishable components of personality dysfunction. The mentalising model of psychopathology highlights the potential relevance of epistemic mistrust, defined as the tendency to treat communicated knowledge as unreliable, and epistemic credulity, characterised by reduced application of rational doubt and an increased tendency to accept communicated information. These epistemic stances have been proposed to relate to general personality pathology (Fonagy et al., 2015). However, empirical research examining these associations remains limited, particularly with respect to whether epistemic mistrust and epistemic credulity show distinct associations with different domains of personality functioning. Therefore, this cross-sectional study will investigate the associations between epistemic mistrust and epistemic credulity and indices of identity disturbance and interpersonal problems, while controlling for demographic variables and shared variance between domains, in a sample comprising individuals diagnosed with personality disorders, individuals with affective disorders (e.g., depression and anxiety), and a community comparison group.