Search results for ‘Subject term:"personality disorders"’ Sort:
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Biological underpinnings of borderline personality disorder
- Authors:
- GOODMAN Marianne, TRIEBWASSER Joseph, NEW Antonia
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work in Mental Health, 6(1/2), 2008, pp.33-47.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Current biological research into BPD aims to identify the neurotransmitters and brain regions involved in the impulsive aggression and affective instability characteristic of the disorder. Structural neuroimaging through magnetic resonance imaging gives information about the anatomy of the brain, while functional neuroimaging using positron emission tomography focuses on brain activity and neurotransmitter systems at the molecular level. Studies using these techniques indicate the involvement of several neurotransmitter systems, principally serotonin, along with the dysfunction of brain regions including the prefrontal cortex and amygdala. This suggests that BPD is a hyperarousal-dyscontrol syndrome although the exact mechanisms of these putative aetiologies remain unknown. (Copies of this article are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Centre, Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580).
Dialectical behavior therapy
- Author:
- KOONS Cedar R.
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work in Mental Health, 6(1/2), 2008, pp.109-132.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) was developed for use with suicidal women, most of whom met the diagnostic criteria for borderline personality disorder. Such individuals are believed to have a pronounced biological vulnerability to emotion, combined with a lack of the learned skill of regulating emotions once they are activated. DBT is based on concepts from behaviourism, Zen and dialectics which contribute, respectively, a technology for change, a technology for acceptance and an approach to achieving balance between the two. It is delivered as an outpatient treatment using four modes related to four functions: enhancing motivation (individual therapy); increasing the patient’s skills (skills training); increasing the skills of therapists and skills trainers (therapist consultation); and generalising skills to the wider environment (telephone coaching between therapy sessions). A detailed case study illustrates how DBT’s core strategies of problem-solving (change) and validation (acceptance) work. (Copies of this article are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Centre, Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580).
Emotion identification and tension in female patients with borderline personality disorder
- Authors:
- WOLFF Sabine, et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 46(3), September 2007, pp.347-360.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This study investigates the identification of emotions in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), when compared with mentally healthy control subjects. The inability to identify different emotions is considered as an essential component of affect dysregulation in BPD that has rarely been empirically investigated. In this study, 30 female borderline patients and 28 healthy control participants received a handheld-PC for a 24-hour period that reminded them hourly to enter data. Participants were recruited from clinics in Berlin, Germany. When compared with the control group, patients showed pronounced difficulties in emotion identification. Moreover, the data revealed a significant relationship between difficulties in identifying emotions and levels of aversive inner tension for BPD patients, but not for control subjects. Results indicate that the inability to identify different emotions is a problem that characterizes borderline patients in real-life situations. Treatment programs should, therefore, focus on the improvement of emotion identification and regulation.
Little girl lost
- Author:
- PAHLSON-MOLLER Lovisa
- Publisher:
- Chipmunkapublishing
- Publication year:
- 2006
- Pagination:
- 200p.
- Place of publication:
- Brentwood
Little Girl Lost is an account of a young woman's successful battle with self-harm and borderline personality disorder. Lovisa first self-harmed at the age of six and survived boot camp before becoming part of the psychiatric system. Little Girl Lost combines an intelligent creative mix of diary writing with powerful poems taking the reader through a roller coaster of emotions. She gives us some insight into her desire for acceptance for being herself. The author spent a period of time in hospital. She used to harm herself and hear voices. Her aim is to reach out to others and be accepted.
Social rejection in social anxiety disorder: the role of performance deficits, evoked negative emotions and dissimilarity
- Author:
- VONCKEN Marisol J.
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 47(4), November 2008, pp.439-450.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) not only fear social rejection, but accumulating evidence also shows that they are indeed less liked than their non-anxious counterparts. Three factors are hypothesized to play a role in this social anxiety-social rejection relationship: (1) social performance; (2) elicited negative emotions, and (3) perceived similarity. Patients with SAD (N=63) and control participants (N=27) were observed during a 5 minutes `getting acquainted' conversation with a male and female confederate who rated their social performance. Video-observers rated their own negative emotions and perceived similarity with the patients, while other video-observers rated their wish to engage in future contact with them (a measure of social rejection). Analysed by way of structural equation modelling (SEM), the results supported the social anxiety-social rejection relationship. More specifically, poor social performance was associated with perceived dissimilarity ratings and mediated by evoked negative emotions, both of which were in turn associated with social rejection. These results suggest that a sequence of events links social anxiety to social rejection. Treatment should aim to improve social performance and perceived similarity to reverse SAD's vicious, negative interpersonal cycle.
A failure of curiosity
- Author:
- MIGDOW Janet S.
- Journal article citation:
- Psychoanalytic Social Work, 15(1), 2008, pp.43-52.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This essay was presented at the 10th meeting of the American Association for Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work. It discusses the psychoanalyst’s defence against, and resolution of, the experience of boredom in the countertransference as an incident of projective identification in the treatment of a woman with dissociative identity disorder. The inner mind of the therapist is revealed as she discovers her own feelings of intense curiosity when a child and adolescent, and contrasts them with the lethargy experienced when dealing with a particularly unreflective client. Her exploration of the mortification she felt on discovering that she could be bored, in particular alerting her to what might lie behind the client’s non-responsiveness, informed the therapeutic process and allowed it to move forward. (Copies of this article are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Centre, Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580).
Processing facial emotions in adults with velo-cardio-facial syndrome: functional magnetic resonance imaging
- Authors:
- VAN AMELSVOORT Therese, et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Psychiatry, 189(6), December 2006, pp.560-561.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
The authors studied the functional neuroanatomy of social behaviour in velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS) using a facial emotional processing task and functional magnetic resonance imaging in adults with this syndrome and controls matched for age and IQ. The VCFS group had less activation in the right insula and frontal brain regions and more activation in occipital regions. Genetically determined abnormalities in pathways including those involved in emotional processing may underlie deficits in social cognition in people with VCFS.
Facial emotion processing in criminal psychopathy: preliminary functional magnetic resonance imaging study
- Authors:
- DEELEY Quinton, et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Psychiatry, 189(6), December 2006, pp.533-539.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
It has been suggested that people with psychopathic disorders lack empathy because they have deficits in processing distress cues (e.g. fearful facial expressions). The aim was to investigate brain function when individuals with psychopathy and a control group process facial emotion. Method Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging we compared six people scoring 25 on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist–Revised and nine non-psychopathic healthy volunteers during an implicit emotion processing task using fearful, happy and neutral faces. The psychopathy group showed significantly less activation than the control group in fusiform and extrastriate cortices when processing both facial emotions. However, emotion type affected response pattern. Both groups increased fusiform and extrastriate cortex activation when processing happy faces compared with neutral faces, but this increase was significantly smaller in the psychopathy group. In contrast, when processing fearful faces compared with neutral faces, the control group showed increased activation but the psychopathy group decreased activation in the fusiform gyrus. People with psychopathy have biological differences from controls when processing facial emotion, and the pattern of response differs according to emotion type.
Delinquency in male adolescents: the role of alexithymia and family structure
- Author:
- ZIMMERMANN Gregorie
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Adolescence, 29(3), June 2006, pp.321-332.
- Publisher:
- Academic Press
The purpose of this study was to examine the linkages between alexithymia and delinquency in male adolescents (age ranging from 14 to 18 years), and to investigate whether alexithymia was a good discriminatory factor for juvenile delinquency. Thirty-six offender adolescents and 46 non-offender control adolescents participated in the study and completed the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) (alexithymia), the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (R-CMAS) (anxiety), the Liste d’Adjectifs Bipolaires et en Echelles de Likert (LABEL) (personality—Big Five) and demographic data. Findings revealed that the adolescents of the offender group scored high on alexithymia and that proportion of disrupted family structure in the offender group is higher than in the control group. Logistic regressions confirmed that alexithymia and family structure are the strongest discriminatory factors for juvenile delinquency. Limitations and clinical implications are discussed, and recommendations for future research are provided
Body-related emotions in posttraumatic stress disorder following childhood sexual abuse
- Authors:
- DYER Anne S., FELDMANN Robert E., BORGMANN Elisabeth
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 24(6), 2015, pp.627-640.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Traumatic experiences are associated with emotions such as anxiety, shame, guilt, disgust, and anger. For patients who have experienced child sexual abuse, these emotions might be triggered by perceptions of their own body. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent of the association of the body to traumatic experiences and to discern the emotions linked to trauma-associated body areas. Ninety-seven female participants were assigned to four groups: post-traumatic stress disorder following child sexual abuse with co-occurring borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder following child sexual abuse without co-occurring borderline personality disorder, borderline personality disorder without post-traumatic stress disorder, and healthy controls. Participants rated 26 body areas regarding their association with trauma and 7 emotions. Emotions were assessed by questionnaires. Results suggest that specific areas of the body are associated with trauma and linked to highly aversive emotions. In post-traumatic stress disorder patients, the areas associated with highly negative emotions were the pubic region and inner thighs. Thus, the patient’s body may act as a trigger for traumatic memories. (Publisher abstract)