Effectiveness of an Emotional Working Memory Training in Borderline Personality Disorder: A Proof-of-Principle Study.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Krause-Utz A
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7949222 | biostudies-literature | 2020
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Effectiveness of an Emotional Working Memory Training in Borderline Personality Disorder: A Proof-of-Principle Study.
Krause-Utz Annegret A Walther Julia-Caroline JC Schweizer Susanne S Lis Stefanie S Hampshire Adam A Schmahl Christian C Bohus Martin M
Psychotherapy and psychosomatics 20200103 2
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Project description:Affective hyper-reactivity and impaired cognitive control of emotional material are core features of borderline personality disorder (BPD). A high percentage of individuals with BPD experience stress-related dissociation, including emotional numbing and memory disruptions. So far little is known about how dissociation influences the neural processing of emotional material in the context of a working memory task in BPD. We aimed to investigate whole-brain activity and amygdala functional connectivity (FC) during an Emotional Working Memory Task (EWMT) after dissociation induction in un-medicated BPD patients compared to healthy controls (HC). Using script-driven imagery, dissociation was induced in 17 patients ('BPD_D'), while 12 patients ('BPD_N') and 18 HC were exposed to neutral scripts during fMRI. Afterwards, participants performed the EWMT with neutral vs. negative IAPS pictures vs. no distractors. Main outcome measures were behavioral performance (reaction times, errors) and whole-brain activity during the EWMT. Psychophysiological interaction analysis was used to examine amygdala connectivity during emotional distraction. BPD patients after dissociation induction showed overall WM impairments, a deactivation in bilateral amygdala, and lower activity in left cuneus, lingual gyrus, and posterior cingulate than BPD_N, along with stronger left inferior frontal gyrus activity than HC. Furthermore, reduced amygdala FC with fusiform gyrus and stronger amygdala FC with right middle/superior temporal gyrus and left inferior parietal lobule was observed in BPD_D. Findings suggest that dissociation affects reactivity to emotionally salient material and WM. Altered activity in areas associated with emotion processing, memory, and self-referential processes may contribute to dissociative states in BPD.
| S-EPMC5956011 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Working memory is critically involved in ignoring emotional distraction while maintaining goal-directed behavior. Antagonistic interactions between brain regions implicated in emotion processing, e.g., amygdala, and brain regions involved in cognitive control, e.g., dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dlPFC, dmPFC), may play an important role in coping with emotional distraction. We previously reported prolonged reaction times associated with amygdala hyperreactivity during emotional distraction in interpersonally traumatized borderline personality disorder (BPD) patients compared to healthy controls (HC): Participants performed a working memory task, while neutral versus negative distractors (interpersonal scenes from the International Affective Picture System) were presented. Here, we re-analyzed data from this study using psychophysiological interaction analysis. The bilateral amygdala and bilateral dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) were defined as seed regions of interest. Whole-brain regression analyses with reaction times and self-reported increase of dissociation were performed. During emotional distraction, reduced amygdala connectivity with clusters in the left dorsolateral and ventrolateral PFC was observed in the whole group. Compared to HC, BPD patients showed a stronger coupling of both seeds with a cluster in the right dmPFC and stronger positive amygdala connectivity with bilateral (para)hippocampus. Patients further demonstrated stronger positive dACC connectivity with left posterior cingulate, insula, and frontoparietal regions during emotional distraction. Reaction times positively predicted amygdala connectivity with right dmPFC and (para)hippocampus, while dissociation positively predicted amygdala connectivity with right ACC during emotional distraction in patients. Our findings suggest increased attention to task-irrelevant (emotional) social information during a working memory task in interpersonally traumatized patients with BPD.
| S-EPMC4211399 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background: Difficulties in emotion regulation are a core symptom of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and often interfere with cognitive functions, such as working memory (WM). Traumatic childhood experiences, including severe maltreatment, can contribute to emotion dysregulation, possibly mediated by changes in high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV). However, it is not yet entirely understood if HF-HRV alterations underlie impaired WM during emotional distraction in BPD and if this is related to traumatic childhood experiences and to comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Objective: Our aim was to investigate performance (reaction times, RTs) and HF-HRV during an emotional working memory task (EWMT) in relation to childhood maltreatment severity and comorbid PTSD in BPD. Method: Eighty-one women (n = 28 healthy controls (HC) and n = 53 BPD patients of which n = 18 had comorbid PTSD) performed an adapted Sternberg item recognition WM task with neutral and negative social cues (interpersonal scenes from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), and neutral, fearful, and angry faces) as distractors. Dependent variables were RTs of correct trials and HF-HRV. Childhood maltreatment was assessed with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Results: Compared to healthy participants, patients with BPD showed prolonged RTs across all distractor conditions with social cues, regardless of their emotional valence. Patients with BPD, especially those with PTSD, demonstrated reduced HF-HRV both at rest and during EWMT. Severity of childhood maltreatment predicted longer RTs and lower HF-HRV during the EWMT. Conclusions: Findings suggest that adverse childhood experiences accelerate difficulties in shifting attention away from social information and that these are more pronounced in individuals with BPD. Reduced HF-HRV (low parasympathetic-tonus) may be an important psychophysiological mechanism underlying impaired WM in the presence of distracting social cues in patients with BPD, especially in those with comorbid PTSD.HighlightsThis study provides evidence that childhood maltreatment experiences are associated with hypersensitivity to social information and reduced high-frequency heart rate variability during a working memory task in borderline personality disorder.
| S-EPMC9262367 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The purpose of the current study was to investigate the unique effects of a commonly used skill incorporated into treatment packages for borderline personality disorder (BPD), countering emotion-driven behavioral urges. Individuals with BPD (N = 8) participated in a single-case experimental design, specifically a multiple baseline, in which they were randomly assigned to complete a baseline assessment-only phase of 2 or 4 weeks. Participants then received four sessions of the countering emotional behaviors module from the unified protocol, followed by a 4-week follow-up phase. Throughout the duration of the study, daily data capture was used to assess real-time changes in the frequency of emotionally avoidant behaviors in response to emotional experiences. Symptoms of BPD, depression, and anxiety were also assessed. By follow-up, the majority of patients demonstrated a meaningful reduction (per single-case experimental design guidelines for evaluating improvements) in their use of avoidant behaviors. There was also preliminary evidence that encouraging participants to act counter to avoidant urges is associated with decreases in BPD, depression, and anxiety symptoms, as well as negative affectivity. The countering emotional behaviors skill from the unified protocol indeed engages its putative target of emotionally avoidant behavioral coping, indicating it is an active ingredient in multicomponent treatment packages for BPD, with implications for downstream clinical endpoints such as BPD and depressive and anxiety symptoms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
| S-EPMC7483202 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background: Previously, we found that patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) but not healthy controls (HC) showed improved memory retrieval after hydrocortisone administration. Objective: In this study, we examined whether increases in endogenous cortisol after psychosocial stress are associated with memory function in patients with BPD and in healthy individuals. Methods: We recruited 49 female patients with BPD and 49 female HC. All participants were exposed to a psychosocial stressor, the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and a control condition (Placebo (P-)TSST) in randomized order. Salivary cortisol, alpha amylase (sAA) and blood pressure were measured in response to stress. Subsequently, we examined free recall of a previously learned word list, autobiographical memory, and working memory. Results: We found a stress*time*group interaction effect for the cortisol response and for sAA to stress, which is mainly triggered by a slightly different increase in cortisol between groups from pre to post TSST. Furthermore, BPD patients showed a less pronounced increase in diastolic blood pressure compared to HC after stress. There was no effect of stress on memory performance in any tests, either in healthy controls or in patients with BPD. Conclusion: Our results suggest a slightly blunted response of the HPA axis and the sympathetic nervous system to stress in BPD compared to healthy women. In contrast to hydrocortisone administration, psychosocial stress did not improve memory retrieval in BPD patients. This might be explained by lower cortisol concentrations and parallel increases in norepinephrine and negative affect after stress.
| S-EPMC6374976 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundEmotional dysregulation (ED) is a core diagnostic symptom in borderline personality disorder (BPD) and an associated feature of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We aimed to investigate differences in dynamical indices of ED in daily life in ADHD and BPD.MethodsWe used experience sampling method (ESM) and multilevel modelling to assess momentary changes in reports of affective symptoms, and retrospective questionnaire measures of ED in a sample of 98 adult females with ADHD, BPD, comorbid ADHD+BPD and healthy controls.ResultsWe found marked differences between the clinical groups and healthy controls. However, the ESM assessments did not show differences in the intensity of feeling angry and irritable, and the instability of feeling sad, irritable and angry, findings paralleled by data from retrospective questionnaires. The heightened intensity in negative emotions in the clinical groups compared to controls was only partially explained by bad events at the time of reporting negative emotions, suggesting both reactive and endogenous influences on ED in both ADHD and BPD.ConclusionsThis study supports the view that ED is a valuable trans-diagnostic aspect of psychopathology in both ADHD and BPD, with similar levels of intensity and instability. These findings suggest that the presence or severity of ED should not be used in clinical practice to distinguish between the two disorders.
| S-EPMC7879647 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by an inability to regulate emotional responses. The amygdala is important in learning about the valence (goodness and badness) of stimuli and functions abnormally in BPD.Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was employed in three groups: unmedicated BPD (n = 33) and schizotypal personality disorder (n = 28) participants and healthy control subjects (n = 32) during a task involving an intermixed series of unpleasant, neutral, and pleasant pictures each presented twice within their respective trial block/run. The amygdala was hand-traced on each participant's structural MRI scan and co-registered to their MRI scan. Amygdala responses were examined with a mixed-model multivariate analysis of variance.Compared with both control groups, BPD patients showed greater amygdala activation, particularly to the repeated emotional but not neutral pictures, and a prolonged return to baseline for the overall blood oxygen level-dependent response averaged across all pictures. Despite amygdala overactivation, BPD patients showed blunted self-report ratings of emotional but not neutral pictures. Fewer dissociative symptoms in both patient groups were associated with greater amygdala activation to repeated unpleasant pictures.The increased amygdala response to the repeated emotional pictures observed in BPD was not observed in schizotypal patients, suggesting diagnostic specificity. This BPD-related abnormality is consistent with the well-documented clinical feature of high sensitivity to emotional stimuli with unusually strong and long-lasting reactions. The finding of a mismatch between physiological and self-report measures of emotion reactivity in BPD patients suggests they may benefit from treatments targeting emotion recognition.
| S-EPMC3415575 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Borderline personality disorder is a chronic psychiatric disorder characterized by marked impulsivity, instability of mood and interpersonal relationships, and suicidal behaviour that can complicate medical care. Identifying this diagnosis is important for treatment planning. Although the cause of borderline personality disorder is uncertain, most patients improve with time. There is an evidence base for treatment using both psychotherapy and psychopharmacology. The clinical challenge centres on managing chronic suicidality.
| S-EPMC558173 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background: Emotional dysregulation is a core feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Previous studies have reported that abnormal grey matter volume is associated with the limbic-cortical circuit and default mode network (DMN) in patients with BPD. However, alterations of cortical thickness in adolescents with BPD have not been well evaluated.Objective: The aim of this study was to assess cortical thickness and its association with emotional dysregulation in adolescents with BPD.Method: This prospective study enrolled 52 adolescents with BPD and 39 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs). Assessments included brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquisition with structural and resting-state functional MRI data, and clinical assessment for emotional dysregulation using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Cortical thickness and seed-based functional connectivity were analysed with FreeSurfer 7.2 software. Correlation analysis between cortical thickness and the scores from emotional assessment was performed with Spearman analysis.Results: Compared to HCs, there was altered cortical thickness in the DMN and limbic-cortical circuit in adolescents with BPD (Monte Carlo correction, all p < .05). These regions with altered cortical thickness were significantly associated with emotional dysregulation (all p < .05). There were also alterations of functional connectivity, i.e. with increased connectivity of the right prefrontal cortex with bilateral occipital lobes, or with the limbic system, and with decreased connectivity among the DMN regions (voxel p < .001, cluster p < .05, family-wise error corrected).Conclusions: Our results suggest that the altered cortical thickness and altered functional connectivity in the limbic-cortical circuit and DMN may be involved in emotional dysregulation in adolescents with BPD.
| S-EPMC9848334 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe emotional regulation process plays a pivotal role in daily-life functioning, modulating goal-directed and adaptive behavior. Conversely, altering this cognitive function can disrupt self-regulation and bring emotional dysregulation. Emotional instability could represent a core characteristic of BPD, also modulating the BPD symptom's onset. This systematic review aims to summarize the existing literature reporting the role of emotional instability in BPD to better define the role of the impairment of the emotional processes in the onset of the cognitive and behavioral symptoms of this complex mental disorder.MethodsMEDLINE, Scopus and Web of Science were independently searched for relevant studies. Eligible studies had to be identifiable through database searching, published and accessible. This systematic review was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines. The search period was from 2012 to 14 September 2022.ResultsA pool of 120 studies was identified, out of which 11 met the selection criteria and were included. Overall, the studies confirm a relationship between emotional instability and borderline personality disorder.ConclusionsThe evidences retrieved seem to point out the role of the emotional impairment not only in worsening of the disorder, but could also be one of the risk factors for its onset.
| S-EPMC10011773 | biostudies-literature