The relationship between childhood maltreatment and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a prominent issue in the etiological research on BPD. This study further explored the relationship between CSA and the development of borderline personality features while evaluating the moderating role of a primary social support source. The Inventory of Altered Self-Capacities (IASC) (Briere, 2000) was used to measure borderline features of participants in this study, a slightly modified version of the Early Sexual Experiences (ESE) questionnaire (Bartoi & Kinder, 1998) was used to evaluate childhood sexual abuse, and the Quality of Relationships Inventory (Pierce, Sarason, & Sarason, 1991) as well as the Unsupportive Social Interactions Inventory (Ingram, Betz, Mindes, Schmitt, & Smith, 2001) was used to measure social support variables. Consistent with previous research in this area, childhood sexual abuse and low social support were both positively correlated with borderline personality features. It was hypothesized that the presence of a supportive relationship at the time the abuse occurred would moderate the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and borderline features. This moderation hypothesis was not supported in the current study, but possible explanations for these findings are explained. Future research is needed in this area to continue and explore this relationship. It is suggested that longitudinal designs will be the next method of advancing the research in the development of borderline personality disorder and the prevention of the disorder.

The goals of this study were threefold: (1) to identify what percentage of psychologists and clinical social workers disclose the diagnostic label BPD to their patients, (2) to identify factors that influence disclosure, and (3) to gather data about the choice to disclose or not to disclose. The MUM effect was used as the theoretical framework. A sequential explanatory mixed methods design including an online survey was used during the first phase. A total of 125 psychologists and 45 social workers participated in the Phase 1 of the study. The majority of participants stated that they either always or usually disclose diagnostic information. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to predict if there was a significant relationship between the independent variables concerns for self, concerns for the patient, societal norms, gender of the professional, professional occupation, theoretical orientation, and frequency of working with individuals diagnosed with BPD and the dependent variable disclosure. The results indicated a significant relationship between societal norms, gender of the professional, and frequency of working with individuals diagnosed with BPD and disclosure. Telephone interviews were conducted during Phase 2 of the study with a subset of the original sample and included 13 psychologists. The data were analyzed using content analysis with an emphasis on constant comparison. The results demonstrated that, of the 13 psychologists, concerns for the patient, concerns for self, and societal norms impact disclosure. Participants also expressed concerns about the stigma of the diagnosis and disclosure leading to defensiveness or negatively impacting the therapeutic relationship. This study may stimulate future research into disclosure and will inform the efforts of mental health workers in their efforts to establish more transparency and trust in their practices.

The purpose of this present study was to examine test performance of the Borderline Personality Disorder on the Symptom Checklist .(SCL-90). This investigation addressed whether the Borderline Personality Disorder has a distinctive profile on the SCL-90, and whether the profile is distinguishable in comparison with two other groups with mental disorders.

This thesis explores the attitudes of women with borderline personality disorder towards otherness. The aim of the thesis was to explore the relationship between different personality characteristics of five women diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and their attitudes towards themselves and representatives of otherness. For these purposes, the Semi- Structured Interview for Personality Functioning (STiP-5.1) assessing personal functioning in the personal and interpersonal domains and the experience sampling method (ESM) were used, through which the respondents recorded the intensity of emotions felt towards themselves and various representatives of otherness for 30 days. The data were processed qualitatively into five case studies. The results indicated significant intraindividual variability in emotions toward self and representatives of otherness. The methods could find application in the treatment process and therapy, whereby assessment of personality functioning could contribute to the overall current picture of the patient and the variability of their psychological attitudes in response to certain life events could be monitored using ESM. KEYWORDS borderline personality disorder, otherness, STiP-5.1, experience sampling methodology

No description available.

Introduction: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe psychiatric disorder characterized by emotion dysregulation, interpersonal dysfunction, and poor impulse control. Little research has investigated BPD in the context of major life events. The perinatal period (pregnancy until 12 months postpartum) is an important milestone that involves major role transitions and novel challenges. This thesis examined the associations between borderline personality features (BPF) and depressive and generalized anxiety symptoms in a sample of treatment-seeking perinatal women. Methods: 74 perinatal women were recruited from the Women’s Health Concerns Clinic (WHCC) at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, Canada, and enrolled in the WHCC Registry study. Participants were sent online intake questionnaires to collect data about demographic, personality, and other psychosocial variables. They also completed three self-report mental health measures: the McLean Screening Instrument for Borderline Personality Disorder (MSI-BPD), the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7). Logistic regression was used to determine whether a positive MSI-BPD screen (score ≥ 7) was associated with a higher likelihood of screening positive on the EPDS or GAD-7 (score ≥ 13). Results: A positive screen on the MSI-BPD was significantly associated with an almost eighteen-fold increase in the odds of screening positive on the EPDS in our treatment-seeking perinatal sample (OR 17.84, 95% CI[2.11, 218.80], p<0.05). A positive screen on the MSI-BPD was not associated with higher odds of screening positive on the GAD-7, rather only childhood trauma and a positive screen on the EPDS emerged as significant predictor variables. Our findings may reflect the greater symptomatic overlap observed between BPD and perinatal depression as well as the comparatively lower comorbidity observed between GAD and BPD in non-perinatal research. Conclusions and Future Directions: The use of self-report measures, low statistical power, and a treatment-seeking sample are limitations to consider when interpreting our findings. To our knowledge, this research study offers one of the first explorations into the relationship between BPD and generalized anxiety symptoms during the perinatal period. Future research should aim to better characterize perinatal BPD and investigate its relationship with other mental health conditions. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / The perinatal period (pregnancy until 12 months postpartum) represents a time of heightened vulnerability to poor mental health. Prior research has mainly focused on perinatal depression and anxiety, while perinatal personality disorders have received comparably less attention. Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe psychiatric disorder associated with diminished ability to regulate emotions, disturbances in self-image, troubled interpersonal relationships, and impulsive behaviour. This thesis investigated the relationship between self-reported borderline personality features (BPF) and depressive and generalized anxiety symptoms in a sample of perinatal women seeking treatment at a psychiatric clinic. We hope that this research sheds light on the nature of perinatal BPD, as well as its associations with other mental health conditions, to improve both immediate and multi-generational maternal and infant well-being.

Patients with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) are deceptive, apathetic, and impulsive. Their social behavior is often inappropriate, and they fail to follow social norms, leading to frequent criminal behavior. Understanding the neural correlates of ASPD could alleviate issues for the patients, such as unstable living conditions, as well as financial costs for the justice system and society. Due to previous research and theoretical implications of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and its role in emotion-regulation and decision-making, it is likely that ASPD patients would show differences in the PFC relative to healthy individuals. Therefore, emphasis is placed on this region. By systematically reviewing articles which used fMRI to examine ASPD patients, this paper aims to understand if the brain activity in the PFC or functional connectivity within these regions differs between ASPD patients and healthy controls. Decreased activity was found in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC) in ASPD patients compared to healthy controls. Further, decreased functional connectivity was found in the frontoparietal control network, default modenetwork, and attentional network. Other prefrontal regions implicated include the medial frontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and medial prefrontal cortex. Most of these regions are important for cognitive control, enabling integration of information regarding, e.g., errors and conflict. Abnormal processing of such information can lead to the impulsive or inappropriate actions often seen in ASPD patients. The PFC seems to play an important functional role in ASPD, mainly the regions responsible for cognitive control, such as the ACC and dlPFC.

Childhood adversity is linked with a variety of negative outcomes including suicide attempts and personality disorders, most commonly Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). A core feature of BPD, emotion dysregulation is often reported following early childhood adversity and contributes to both suicidal ideation and attempts. One explanation for the development of emotion dysregulation within BPD, is the biosocial model, which states that there must be an interaction between childhood emotional vulnerability and parental invalidation. Recent literature suggests that this interaction may not be necessary. Thus, the current study extended previous literature by examining childhood risk factors (i.e., ACES, parental invalidation, and childhood emotional vulnerability) as individual and interactive effects in predicting both BPD and suicide directly, as well as indirectly predicting suicide through BPD. Overall, the results indicated that all three risk factors individually predicted BPD and suicide risk and that the biosocial interaction also significantly predicts BPD and suicide risk.

Individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) experience emotional instability and have a high suicide rate. Treatment for BPD includes psychotherapy and adaptive emotion regulation strategies, which include cognitive reappraisal. Previous systematic reviews indicate that abnormal brain patterns may cause emotional instability in BPD individuals. To further explore this, this review collected articles that examined neural activity using fMRI during cognitive reappraisal in subjects with BPD and healthy controls. We identified four relevant articles through a search of Web of Science and PubMed. The articles included conflicting results in both participant groups regarding increased or decreased activity during cognitive reappraisal applying either reinterpretation or distancing. The affected brain regions were the following: lateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, left middle temporal gyrus, and superior temporal gyri. Three of the articles reported consistent results of activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during downregulation, two in all participants and one only in the healthy control group. However, no significant group differences were found in this region during cognitive reappraisal. The discussion includes limitations regarding the comparability of the included studies, such as the method of eliciting negative affect, the use of written or verbal instructions, and the cognitive reappraisal strategy applied. Further research is necessary to better understand the involvement of distinct brain regions in cognitive reappraisal and BPD, as well as to establish more standardized research methods. These efforts can offer comprehensive insights into the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive reappraisal in individuals with BPD.

Psychopathy is a frequently reported personality trait among violent offenders, and psychopaths have a higher rate of recidivism than inmates without psychopathic features. This systematic review aimed to investigate whether structural brain differences, measured with magnetic resonance imaging, are observed in violent offenders with psychopathy compared to violent offenders without psychopathy or healthy non-violent controls. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The search utilised the academic databases Web of Science and Medline EBSCO and included original peer-reviewed articles written in English and published between 2013 and 2023. Seven articles fulfilling the inclusion criteria were selected for the review. The findings indicated that there are structural differences between violent psychopaths compared to non-violent psychopaths and healthy controls, such as reduced grey matter volume in the prefrontal cortical areas, posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus, and striatal and limbic regions. Further, the degree of structural brain differences in psychopaths correlated with the degree of psychopathic traits. The structural differences found in the brains of violent psychopaths can provide insight into the neurobiological basis and neural mechanisms of psychopathy and elucidate how changes in brain morphology relate to antisocial behaviour and psychopathic personality traits. In addition, the evidence of structural abnormalities in the brain of psychopaths may help develop targeted treatments that could reduce the risk of psychopathic individuals turning to crime and violence or committing repeated violent crimes.