Script-driven imagery of self-injurious behavior in patients with borderline personality disorder: a pilot FMRI study

Self-injurious behavior (SIB) is one of the most distinctive features of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and related to impulsivity and emotional dysregulation.

Female patients with BPD (n = 11) and healthy controls (n = 10) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while listening to a standardized script describing an act of self-injury. Experimental sections of the script were contrasted to the neutral baseline section and group-specific brain activities were compared.

While imagining the reactions to a situation triggering SIB, patients with BPD showed significantly less activation in the orbitofrontal cortex compared with controls. Furthermore, only patients with BPD showed increased activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during this section and a decrease in the mid-cingulate while imagining the self-injurious act itself.

This pattern of activation preliminary suggests an association with diminished emotion regulation, impulse control as well as with response selection and reappraisal during the imagination of SIB.