Affective startle modulation in young people with first-presentation borderline personality disorder

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by emotional dysregulation.
• Previous research suggests heightened emotional sensitivity in BPD.
• The current study examines psychophysiological and subjective emotional responses in adolescents and young adults with BPD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate emotional and psychophysiological responses to affective stimuli in first-presentation BPD.
• To compare BPD participants with healthy controls using an affective startle modulation paradigm.
• To explore emotional regulation strategies in BPD.

Main Methods:

• Twenty BPD participants and 20 healthy controls (aged 15-24) viewed pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant images.
• Participants were instructed to 'maintain' or 'suppress' emotional responses.
• Skin conductance responses and startle reflexes were measured.

Main Results:

• BPD participants reported higher baseline distress but exhibited lower skin conductance responses.
• An absence of the fear-potentiated startle response was observed in BPD during early picture processing.
• Both groups showed similar startle responses later in processing and during emotion regulation tasks.

Conclusions:

• BPD participants were hypo-responsive to aversive stimuli during early processing.
• Contrary to expectations, BPD individuals did not show heightened emotional responses or impaired regulation.
• Emotional hypersensitivity in BPD may be specific to personally relevant themes like rejection.