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Amygdala volume and depressive symptoms in patients with borderline personality disorder.

BACKGROUND: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by a high prevalence of comorbid psychiatric disorders, including major depression (MD). The aim of this study was to examine whether a co-occurrence of MD is associated with structural changes in the amygdala of BPD patients. METHODS: Twenty-five right-handed, female patients with BPD and 25 matched healthy control subjects were examined. Diagnoses of BPD and MD were made according to DSM IV. Depressive symptomatology was determined with the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD). Magnetic resonance imaging scans were performed with 1.5 T Magnetom Vision (Siemens, Erlangen, Germany). The software program "BRAINS" was applied for brain volumetry and segmentation. The amygdala was delineated as "region of interest." RESULTS: Comparison of amygdala volumes between the whole group of BPD patients and control subjects revealed no significant difference. Amygdala volumes in both hemispheres were significantly larger in BPD patients with MD compared with those without MD. There was a significant correlation in BPD patients between left amygdala volume and depressive symptoms as measured by HAMD. CONCLUSIONS: Correlation of amygdala volume with depression in BPD patients might indicate a causal relationship. Future studies should clarify whether amygdala enlargement is a risk factor for MD in BPD patients or a consequence of the affective disorder.

Adult↗

An open clinical trial of cognitive therapy for borderline personality disorder.

Although borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a major public health concern, psychotherapeutic trials have been limited. The present uncontrolled clinical trial examines whether cognitive therapy for BPD is associated with significant improvement on measures of psychopathology. A total of 32 patients with BPD, who also reported suicide ideation or who engaged in self-injury behavior, received weekly cognitive therapy sessions over a 1-year period as described by Layden et al. (1993). The results revealed significant and clinically important decreases on measures of suicide ideation, hopelessness, depression, number of borderline symptoms and dysfunctional beliefs at termination and 18-month assessment interviews. Implications for further research with this difficult-to-treat patient population are discussed.

Adult↗

[Olanzapine and cognitive-behavioural group therapy in borderline personality disorder].

INTRODUCTION: Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is considered one of the most difficult psychiatric conditions to treat, neither psychological nor pharmacological treatments have been shown to be particularly effective. We present a proposal for the treatment of patients diagnosed with BPD which uses an atypical neuroleptic, olanzapine, and cognitive-behavioural group therapy aimed at dealing with the following problems: Interpersonal Conflict, Affective Instability, Impulsiveness, and Confused Identity. METHODS: Six patients diagnosed with BPD using the International Personality Disorder Evaluation (IPDE) were treated during 6 months with olanzapine (at dosages of 5-20mg/day) and dialectical behaviour therapy, with weekly 2-hour sessions. RESULTS: All of these patients followed the programme during the first 2 months, and 3 of the 6 completed it, showing an improvement in their behavioural disorder, as indicated by a decrease in parasuicidal episodes (i.e. suicide attempts and self-mutilative acts) and fewer visits to the emergency department. One of the patients dropped out due to side effects. DISCUSSION: The possibility of using a combined therapeutic approach enables us to project controlled clinical trials over a longer period of time, thus making it possible to assess behavioural changes which are difficult to observe in conventional clinical trials.

Adult↗

Disclosure of a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a common psychiatric disorder with a prevalence of 1%-2% in the general population. BPD also has the potential to cause significant distress in the lives of patients with BPD and their families. The diagnosis of BPD, however, is often withheld from patients. The purpose of this article is to explore the history of diagnostic disclosure in medicine and psychiatry and then discuss reasons why clinicians may or may not disclose the diagnosis of BPD. METHODS: The authors review medical literature about diagnostic disclosure and other issues that may affect the decision to disclose a diagnosis of BPD. RESULTS: The authors discuss the historical precedents for diagnostic disclosure and reasons a clinician may not disclose the diagnosis of BPD to a patient: questions regarding the validity of BPD as a diagnosis, worries about the stigma of the diagnosis being harmful to the patient, and transference/countertransference issues common in the treatment of patients with BPD. The authors cite factors promoting disclosure, such as the ideal of patient autonomy, possibilities for psychoeducation and collaboration with the patient toward more specific and effective therapies, and the increasing availability of diagnostic information available to patients from sources other than their clinicians. CONCLUSIONS: There are compelling reasons to make the diagnosis the subject of open examination and discussion between clinician and patient, and reasons to believe that disclosure would serve to advance the patient in his or her recovery.

Borderline Personality Disorder↗

Neural correlates of memories of abandonment in women with and without borderline personality disorder.

BACKGROUND: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a common psychiatric disorder that is often linked to early stressors. One particularly salient feature of the disorder is fear of abandonment. This pilot study was conducted to measure neural correlates of memories of abandonment in women with and without BPD. METHODS: Twenty women with a history of childhood sexual abuse underwent measurement of brain blood flow with positron emission tomography imaging while they listened to scripts describing neutral and personal abandonment events. Brain blood flow during exposure to abandonment and neutral scripts was compared among women with and without BPD. RESULTS: Memories of abandonment were associated with greater increases in blood flow in bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (middle frontal gyrus, Brodmann's areas 9 and 10) as well as right cuneus (area 19) in women with BPD than in women without BPD. Abandonment memories were associated with greater decreases in right anterior cingulate (areas 24 and 32) in women with BPD than in women without BPD. CONCLUSIONS: These findings implicate dysfunction of dorsolateral and medial prefrontal cortex including anterior cingulate, left temporal cortex, and visual association cortex in memories of abandonment in women with BPD. These brain areas may mediate symptoms of BPD.

Adult↗

A positron emission tomography study of memories of childhood abuse in borderline personality disorder.

BACKGROUND: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a common psychiatric disorder, which is linked to early stressors in many cases; however, the impact of traumatic events in the etiology of BPD is still unclear. This pilot study was conducted to measure the neural correlates of recall of traumatic memories in women with and without BPD. METHODS: Twenty women with a history of childhood physical or sexual abuse underwent measurement of brain blood flow with positron emission tomography imaging while they listened to scripts describing neutral and personal traumatic abuse events. Brain blood flow during exposure to trauma and neutral scripts was compared between women with and without BPD. RESULTS: Memories of trauma were associated with increases in blood flow in right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann's area [BA] 44 and 45) and with decreased blood flow in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 44 and 45) in women without BPD. There was also increased blood flow in right anterior cingulate (BA 24) and left orbitofrontal cortex (BA 11) in women without BPD. Women with BPD failed to activate anterior cingulate gyrus and orbitofrontal cortex. Also, no blood flow changes were seen in dorsolateral prefrontal gyrus in women with BPD. CONCLUSIONS: Dysfunction of dorsolateral and medial prefrontal cortex, including anterior cingulate, seems to be correlated with the recall of traumatic memories in women with BPD. These brain areas might mediate trauma-related symptoms, such as dissociation or affective instability, in patients with BPD.

Adult↗

Deficits in visual functions and neuropsychological inconsistency in Borderline Personality Disorder.

For Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) cognitive and perceptual impairments were reported in some but not all studies. The aim of the present study was to analyze the neuropsychological performance of BPD patients in different domains. Predominant impairments of visual functions and an increased intra-individual variation of test performances within neuropsychological domains were expected. We investigated 22 patients with BPD and a matched sample of 22 healthy control subjects. A comprehensive clinical and neuropsychological test battery was administered. Effect sizes indicate primarily deficits of visual functions such as visual memory (Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised, WMS-R: Visual pair associates and visual reproduction, Complex Figure Test: Recall) and visuo-spatial abilities (Leistungspruefsystem, LPS 9 and 10: Spatial imagination and embedded figures), but also of executive functions (Tower of Hanoi, Trail Making Test-B, semantic and figural fluency, LPS 4: Reasoning). In addition, the intra-individual ranges of neuropsychological test results in BPD patients were increased compared to those of healthy subjects. This finding might be due to a high degree of temporary stress that interferes with effective cognitive processing. Further research is needed to confirm the present results and to control for stress during the test procedure.

Adult↗

The influence of emotions on inhibitory functioning in borderline personality disorder.

BACKGROUND: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by an emotionally unstable and impulsive cognitive and behavioral style. Inhibitory dysfunction has been hypothesized as playing a crucial role in BPD psychopathology. This study aimed to systematically investigate differential inhibitory functions in patients with BPD as compared to healthy controls, and to investigate their expected impairment in the context of aversive emotions by comparing performances in neuropsychological tasks that present both neutral and emotional material. METHOD: Unmedicated female patients with BPD (n=28) were compared with age-matched healthy female controls (n=30) in the following tasks: the emotional Stroop test (inhibition of interference), directed forgetting (intentional, resource-dependent inhibition), and an emotional variant of the negative priming task (automatic, resource-independent inhibition). RESULTS: In comparison with the controls, the BPD patients showed reduced inhibition of negative material in the directed forgetting task and in the negative priming task. No effect was found in the emotional Stroop test. Significant correlations with current affect as well as trait anxiety and anger (but not impulsiveness) were found in the BPD group specifically for negative stimuli, while no such correlations were found in the control group. In addition to inhibitory deficiencies, BPD patients had difficulties remembering positive words in the directed forgetting task. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that individuals with BPD have difficulties in actively suppressing irrelevant information when it is of an aversive nature. Inhibitory dysfunction appears to be closely related to state and trait variables of unstable affect, but not to self-reported impulsiveness.

Adult↗

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and borderline personality disorder.

To evaluate the association between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD) in adulthood, a systematic review of published follow-up data, mainly from observational studies was done. Electronic databases Medline, PsychInfo and PSYNDEXplus were searched from their earliest entries. All studies suggested significant relationships between ADHD and BPD. From a phenomenological point of view there seem to exist some similarities between these two disorders: deficits in affect regulation and impulse control, substance abuse, low self esteem and disturbed interpersonal relationship are common in both conditions. From a neuropsychological point of view dissociation in BPD might be regarded as a special form of behavioral inhibition and sustained attention comparable to ADHD. Possible therapeutic strategies of comorbid ADHD and BPD are discussed.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗

Borderline symptom inventory: assessing inpatient and outpatient borderline personality disorders.

The Borderline Symptom Inventory (BSI), a 52-item self-report inventory, was administered to cohorts of patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD), affective disorder and a normal control sample. The study failed to demonstrate that the inventory could effectively discriminate either ambulatory or hospitalized BPD patients from those with affective disorders, but that the inventory could correctly specify a control group without a psychiatric disorder. The results suggest that it is premature to utilize the BSI as a reliable screen to detect BPD.

Adult↗

[Eating disorders and borderline personality disorder: what are the connections?].

Various forms of evidence suggest that eating disorders display a special co-aggregation with borderline personality disorder (BPD). In this article, the authors review findings suggesting an apparent affinity between BPD and bulimia. The authors then discuss the implication of BPD on the symptomatic expression and response to treatment of eating disorders. Finally, they explore heuristic dimensions that may explain the specific association of BPD with eating disorders. A discussion follows proposing researchable hypotheses that may permit a better differentiation of processes contributing to the evolution of eating disorders and BPD.

Borderline Personality Disorder↗

Managing aggressive behavior in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and borderline personality disorder.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, occurring in 2% to 3% of the U.S. population. Borderline personality disorder is found in 2% of the U.S. population. These disorders denote the endpoints on a spectrum of compulsive and impulsive disorders. One endpoint marks compulsive or risk-aversive behaviors characterized by overestimation of the probability of future harm, highlighted by OCD. The other endpoint designates impulsive action characterized by the lack of complete consideration of the negative results of such behavior, such as borderline and antisocial personality disorders. This article examines studies testing the efficacy of different medications in treating compulsive and impulsive disorders. Mood stabilizers such as divalproex, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, and neuroleptics have documented efficacy in treating aggression and affective instability in impulsive patients.

Aggression↗

Platelet alpha 2-adrenergic receptor binding sites in major depressive disorder and borderline personality disorder.

Platelet alpha 2-adrenergic receptor binding sites were measured in a group of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) (n = 23) and in normal controls (n = 25). When all depressed subjects were compared to controls, there were no differences in either Kd (affinity of the ligand) or total binding site (number/platelet), although a significant change in the ratio of high to low affinity states was observed in the depressed group. When the depressed patients were subdivided into those with and without a co-occurring borderline personality disorder (BPD), the BPD group had significantly fewer alpha 2 high affinity binding sites, while the group with depression alone had significantly more binding sites (both low and high affinity) than the control group. The results support the concept that assessment of comorbid diagnoses may be essential to biological studies of depression.

Aged↗

Overlap between borderline and schizotypal personality disorders.

Borderline personality was split into two diagnostic categories in DSM-III: borderline personality disorder (BPD) and schizotypal personality disorder (SPD). There remains a great deal of diagnostic overlap between these two categories despite modifications in DSM-III-R. This report discusses four possible hypotheses for this overlap: (1) an independent, random association; (2) artifactual overlap due to imperfections in the criteria sets; (3) a synergistic association of the two personality disorders; and (4) a manifestation of dimensional psychopathology. Empirical evidence for each of the first three hypotheses is weak and contradictory. Recent biologic and treatment studies appear to most strongly support the use of dimensional models of "borderline" and "schizotypal" personality traits.

Borderline Personality Disorder↗

Psychopharmacology of borderline personality disorder: a review.

Borderline personality disorder poses a significant treatment challenge to the clinician. The frequent presence of comorbid disorders and the occurrence of a wide array of possible target symptoms complicate clinical assessment. Limited data from controlled clinical trials suggest that neuroleptics, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, and the anticonvulsant carbamazepine produce statistically and clinically significant short-term symptom reduction and may be useful components of the treatment approach to borderline personality disorder. Further research is needed to identify subgroups of patients with borderline personality disorder who are particularly responsive to a given medication and to explore the possibility that specific symptom complexes (such as suspiciousness, anhedonia, affective lability, or behavioral dyscontrol) are preferentially responsive to specific agents.

Antipsychotic Agents↗

Treatment of borderline personality disorder with risperidone.

BACKGROUND: Of the various Axis II disorders, borderline personality disorder (BPD) is among the more critical to treat. There are at present few results in terms of clinical outcome with the psychotropic agents available. Possible targets for pharmacotherapy are affective symptoms, cognitive disturbances, and impulsive, self-injurious behaviors. In previous studies, atypical antipsychotics at low-to-moderate doses provided symptom reduction with good tolerability. Our purpose was to assess the efficacy of risperidone in BPD, focusing on its effects on impulsive-aggressive behavior. METHOD: Fifteen BPD outpatients (DSM-IV diagnosis) with prominent histories of aggressive behavior were included in an 8-week open-label study with risperidone at low-to-moderate doses. Axis II codiagnoses included antisocial personality disorder (N = 4). Exclusion criteria included current Axis I diagnosis or any major medical or neurologic illness. Efficacy measures were the 21-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, the DSM-IV Global Assessment of Functioning, and the self-rated Aggression Questionnaire. Evaluations were carried out at baseline and at the end of the treatment. RESULTS: Thirteen patients completed the trial; 2 patients dropped out because of lack of compliance. Final mean dose of risperidone was 3.27 mg/day. There was a significant (p = .0057) reduction in aggression based on Aggression Questionnaire scores. This amelioration was coupled with an overall improvement, including a reduction in depressive symptoms and an increase in energy and global functioning. CONCLUSION: Risperidone at low-to-moderate doses can improve BPD symptomatology. Further studies are needed to explore the efficacy of risperidone versus placebo as well as in comparison to other potential treatments for BPD.

Adult↗