Emotions and Memory in Borderline Personality Disorder

Abstract

Memory processes such as encoding, storage, and retrieval of information are influenced by emotional content. Because patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are particularly susceptible to emotional information, it is relevant to understand whether such memory processes are altered in this patient group. This systematic literature review collects current evidence on this issue. Research suggests that emotional information interferes more strongly with information processing and learning in BPD patients than in healthy controls. In general, BPD patients do not seem to differ from healthy control subjects in their ability to memorize emotional information, but they tend to have specific difficulties forgetting negative information. Also, BPD patients seem to recall autobiographical, particularly negative events with stronger arousal than healthy controls, while BPD patients also show specific temporo-prefrontal alterations in neural correlates. No substantial evidence was found that the current affective state influences learning and memory in BPD patients any differently than in healthy control subjects. In general, a depressive mood seems to both deteriorate and negatively bias information processing and memories, while there is evidence that dissociative symptoms impair learning and memory independently of stimulus valence. This review discusses methodological challenges of studies on memory and emotions in BPD and makes suggestions for future research and clinical implications.

Childhood trauma and negative memory bias as shared risk factors for psychopathology and comorbidity in a naturalistic psychiatric patient sample

“…In anxiety disorders, however, the evidence for memory bias is mixed (Mathews & MacLeod, ; Mitte, ). Furthermore, some recent studies found evidence for memory bias in disorders other than depression and anxiety, e.g., borderline personality disorder (Winter, Elzinga, & Schmahl, ), eating disorders (Nikendei et al., ), and schizophrenia (Peters, Hauschildt, Moritz, & Jelinek, ). The association between memory bias and psychiatric comorbidity is unclear at this point, but negative emotions are a key aspect of not only depression and anxiety, but of many psychiatric disorders (American Psychiatric Association, ).…”

Suicide attempters with Borderline Personality Disorder show differential orbitofrontal and parietal recruitment when reflecting on aversive memories

“…Participants then rated their negative affect and the vividness of the memory recalled on a scale of 1-5. Trial-by-trial self-report is routinely used to evaluate regulatory success in healthy and clinical populations in the reappraisal literature (e.g., (Koenigsberg, Fan, 2009; Ochsner et al, 2002)) because moment-to-moment self-report is a more accurate means of assessing emotions than retrospective report (Stone and Shiffman, 1994) – particularly among individuals with BPD who may have memory distortions (Winter, Elzinga, 2014). After each trial, participants completed an active baseline task involving making button presses to indicate the direction of an arrow for 20 seconds (Stark and Squire, 2001).…”

“…The present study sought to do so using a paradigm that assessed emotion regulation for upsetting memories wherein participants were instructed on a trial-by-trial basis to either emotionally immerse or distance (i.e., reappraise) themselves from their memories. Upsetting memories were used both because they effectively elicit negative affect and are clinically significant (Winter et al, 2014). Three hypotheses were tested.…”

Hyper-modulation of brain networks by the amygdala among women with Borderline Personality Disorder: Network signatures of affective interference during cognitive processing

“…Through extensive feedback loops to limbic structures, these prefrontal regions exercise a measure of “top-down” tonic control to maintain emotional homeostasis (Davidson and Irwin, 1999). In patients with BPD, affective interference, especially by negative stimuli, impairs functioning of brain networks that sub-serve cognitive processing of executive functions required for adaptive responding (Sebastian et al, 2013; Soloff et al, 2015; Winter et al, 2014). …”