Changes in the Brain as Borderline Patients Learn to Regulate Their Emotions

Launched by ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI · Jun 4, 2015

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a common psychiatric disorder found in approximately 2% to 6% of the population . It is characterized by intense and rapid mood changes, self-destructive behavior, suicidality, and tumultuous relationships. In additional to the emotional costs of the suffering experienced by borderline patients and their loved ones, BPD patients typically function at a level substantially below that of individuals with comparable intellect. The difficulty controlling emotion, so central to the disorder, has proved a particularly difficult to treat. The present study ...

Gender

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Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • BPD subjects 18 to 50 years old
• • Meet criteria for DSM-IV Borderline Personality Disorder, including the DSM-IV criteria for affective instability (criterion #6), and not meet criteria for Schizotypal Personality Disorder (SPD) or AvPD.
• • Subjects in the AvPD group meet DSM-IV criteria for AvPD and not for BPD or SPD.
• • All subjects will be free of psychotropic medications for 2 weeks (6 weeks for fluoxetine).
• • Subjects may be enrolled in psychotherapy
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • BPD and AvPD subjects will not meet DSM-IV criteria for past or present PTSD, bipolar I disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, substance dependence, head trauma, CNS neurological disease, seizure disorder or current major depression.
• • Substance abuse disorder in the prior 6 months
• • Significant medical illness
• • Pregnancy
• • Metallic foreign-bodies that contraindicate MRI