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 available neuroimaging findings,” the researchers wrote.

Researchers used anisotropic effect size and signed differential mapping to determine combined coordinate- and image-based meta-analyses. Analyses included 19 functional neuroimaging studies on processing of negative vs. neutral stimuli among 281 individuals with BPD and 10 studies on gray matter abnormalities in 263 individuals with BPD.

Individuals with BPD exhibited increased activation of the left amygdala and posterior cingulate cortex and decreased responses in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during negative emotional stimuli processing, compared with healthy controls.

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