• Biology,  Borderline Personality Disorder

    Research confirms emotional dysregulation behind borderline personality disorder

    Our results indicate that abnormal functioning of dorsolateral prefrontal and limbic brain regions might underlie disturbed emotion processing in BPD. Research confirms emotional dysregulation behind borderline personality disorder Schulze L, et al. Biol Psychiatry. 2016;doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.03.027. Recent findings showed dysfunctional dorsolateral prefrontal and limbic brain regions are a significant feature of borderline personality disorder, consistent with the concept that the disorder is an emotional dysregulation disorder. “Taken together, neuroimaging studies suggest that dysfunctional frontolimbic brain regions underlie the ‘emotional turmoil’ in patients with [borderline personality disorder (BPD)]. To further advance the neuroanatomical basis of disturbed emotion processing in BPD, the present study utilized a coordinate- and image-based meta-analytic approach to summarize…

  • Biology,  Borderline Personality Disorder

    A New Perspective on the Pathophysiology of Borderline Personality Disorder: A Model of the Role of Oxytocin

    A New Perspective on the Pathophysiology of Borderline Personality Disorder: A Model of the Role of Oxytocin Sabine C. Herpertz, , M.D., Katja Bertsch, , Ph.D. Borderline personality disorder is characterized by three domains of dysfunction: affect dysregulation, behavioral dyscontrol, and interpersonal hypersensitivity. Interpersonal hypersensitivity is associated with a (pre)attentive bias toward negative social information and, on the level of the brain, enhanced bottom-up emotion generation, while affect dysregulation results from abnormal top-down processes. Additionally, the problems of patients with borderline personality disorder in interpersonal functioning appear to be related to alterations in the (social) reward and empathy networks. There is increasing evidence that the oxytocinergic system may be involved…

  • Biology,  Borderline Personality Disorder

    Study Will Evaluate Bipolar Medication in Treating Borderline Personality Disorder

    The secondary outcomes are depressive symptoms, deliberate self-harm, social functioning, health-related quality of life, resource use and costs, side effects of treatment, adverse events, and withdrawal of trial medication due to adverse effects. Study Will Evaluate Bipolar Medication in Treating Borderline Personality Disorder Aug 12, 2015 | Bill Schu Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is challenging to diagnose and treat. As yet, there are no drugs currently licensed for BPD treatment. In fact, guidance from England’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends that pharmacologic therapy not be used for patients with BPD at all. This is potentially troubling, because those patients typically experience rapid and extreme changes in mood,…

  • Biology,  Borderline Personality Disorder,  Emotions

    Emotionally unstable people have different brain structure

    The results support the idea that there is a continuum in our ability to regulate emotions, and if you are at the extreme end of the spectrum, you are likely to have problems with functioning in society and this leads to a psychiatric diagnosis Emotionally unstable people have different brain structure We all vary in how often we become happy, sad or angry, and also in how strongly these emotions are expressed. This variability is a part of our personality and can be seen as a positive aspect that increases diversity in society. However, there are people that find it so difficult to regulate their emotions that it has a…

  • Biology

    Are DSM Psychiatric Disorders “Heritable”?

    The authors of mainstream psychiatric and psychiatric genetic publications believe that the major psychiatric disorders are “moderately to highly heritable.” Are DSM Psychiatric Disorders “Heritable”? By JAY JOSEPH A key psychiatric genetic concept is heritability. The concept was originally developed as a tool to help predict the results of selective breeding programs of farm animals,1 but has been extended in the past few decades as an indicator of the strength or magnitude of genetic influences on various psychiatric disorders and behavioral characteristics. Numerical heritability estimates have been a mainstay of the field of behavioral genetics, but here I would like to focus on problems with the heritability concept in psychiatry,…

  • Biology,  Borderline Personality Disorder

    Neuroscience: The hard science of oxytocin

    In patients with a psychiatric condition known as borderline personality disorder, a single dose of oxytocin has been found to hinder trust and cooperation Neuroscience: The hard science of oxytocin As researchers work out how oxytocin affects the brain, the hormone is shedding its reputation as a simple cuddle chemical. Helen Shen In April 2011, Robert Froemke and his team were reprogramming the brains of virgin mice with a single hormone injection. Before the treatment, the female mice were largely indifferent to the cries of a distressed baby, and were even known to trample over them. But after an injection of oxytocin, the mice started to respond more like mothers,…