• Biology,  Borderline Personality Disorder,  Emotions,  Validation

    Ambiguity is the greatest threat

    In 2009, I attended the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders (ISSPD) in New York. Dr. Glen Gabbard, MD, a psychiatrist and clinician that treats people with Borderline Personality Disorder (#BPD). About halfway through his presentation, Dr. Gabbard said: “Ambiguity is the greatest threat.” He was speaking in the context of a clinician treating someone with BPD. Many studies have show that people with BPD react to neutral facial expressions as if the person is angry. People with BPD interpret neutral faces as angry. I once saw a woman with BPD view a picture of a neutral face and she said, “He’s angry with me.” Dr. Gabbard was suggesting to…

  • Biology,  Borderline Personality Disorder,  Other Disorders

    Research effort reveals differences in brain activity for bipolar and borderline

    The scans revealed that those with BP were able to function quite normally under normal conditions, but when taxed, their brains were found to have to work harder than normal to keep up. Many people have started using brain supplements from https://neurohacks.co/best-nootropic-brain-supplements/ to help them focus more. Those with BPD on the other hand, showed heightened activity in the amygdala, a part of the brain normally associated with fear response. Research effort reveals differences in brain activity for two types of mental illness April 4, 2013 by Bob Yirka (Medical Xpress)—Researchers in Australia have uncovered what they describe as differences in brain behavior for people diagnosed with either bipolar disorder…

  • Biology,  Borderline Personality Disorder,  Emotions

    New insights into the borderline personality brain

    The hallmark symptom that people describe is emotion dysregulation — you’re happy one moment, and the next moment you’re feeling angry or sad or depressed. People with BPD can cycle through emotions, usually negative ones, quite rapidly. New insights into the ‘borderline personality’ brain (link) New work by University of Toronto Scarborough researchers gives the best description yet of the neural circuits that underlie a severe mental illness called Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), and could lead to better treatments and diagnosis. The work shows that brain regions that process negative emotions (for example, anger and sadness) are overactive in people with BPD, while brain regions that would normally help damp…

  • Biology,  Borderline Personality Disorder,  Other Disorders

    Specific Brain Region Tied to Empathy

    Now that we know the specific brain mechanisms associated with empathy, we can translate these findings into disease categories and learn why these empathic responses are deficient in neuropsychiatric illnesses, such as autism. Specific Brain Region Tied to Empathy (read the Article at PsychCentral) By TRACI PEDERSEN Associate News Editor Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on October 26, 2012 An international team of researchers has demonstrated, for the first time, that a particular area of the brain — called the anterior insular cortex — is where human empathy originates. “Now that we know the specific brain mechanisms associated with empathy, we can translate these findings into disease categories and…

  • Biology,  Borderline Personality Disorder

    New approach could more effectively diagnose personality disorders

    Personality disorders could be more effectively diagnosed by identifying and targeting the disrupted neurobiological systems where the disorders originate, report Cornell researchers. New approach could more effectively diagnose personality disorders (link) February 20th, 2012 in Psychology & Psychiatry (Medical Xpress) — Personality disorders could be more effectively diagnosed by identifying and targeting the disrupted neurobiological systems where the disorders originate, report Cornell researchers. The way that these mental illnesses are now classified — based on particular patterns of thought and behavior — is misguided and has little hard evidence to support it, reports Cornell neuroscientist Richard Depue and his colleague in a special issue of the Journal of International Review…

  • Biology,  Mentalizing,  Video

    Mentalization and understanding the minds of others

    I spoken about mentalization on this site before. Since I’ve lately been on a TED talk kick, mainly watching TED talks about neuroscience, I wanted to post this one from Rebecca Saxe which is called “How we read each other’s minds”. It is basically describing the process of mentalizing and how a certain part of the brain, the Right Temporo-Parietal Junction, is highly specialized for seeking to understand the motivations of others, the essence of mentalization. What is fascinating about this talk is her use of the pirate/cheese sandwich story with children of various ages. She demonstrates how the process of mentalization develops over time. I talked about another mentalization test (which is based on…