Functional MRI findings in personality disorders: A review

Abstract

Personality disorders (PDs) have a prevalence of approximately 10% in the United States, translating to over 30 million people affected in just one country. The true prevalence of these disorders may be even higher, as the paucity of objective diagnostic criteria could be leading to underdiagnosis. Because little is known about the underlying neuropathologies of these disorders, patients are diagnosed using subjective criteria and treated nonspecifically. To better understand the neural aberrancies responsible for these patients' symptoms, a review of functional MRI literature was performed. The findings reveal that each PD is characterized by a unique set of activation changes corresponding to individual structures or specific neural networks. While unique patterns of neural activity are distinguishable within each PD, aberrations of the limbic/paralimbic structures and default mode network are noted across several of them. In addition to identifying valuable activation patterns, this review reveals a void in research pertaining to paranoid, schizoid, histrionic, narcissistic, and dependent PDs. By delineating patterns in PD neuropathology, we can more effectively direct future research efforts toward enhancing objective diagnostic techniques and developing targeted treatment modalities. Furthermore, understanding why patients are manifesting certain symptoms can advance clinical awareness and improve patient outcomes.

Borderline shades: Morphometric features predict borderline personality traits but not histrionic traits

“…Self-cohesion consists of the person's subjective experience of having a unified and stable sense of self ( Palombo, 1992 ). Due to these findings and the limited amount of research on HPD ( Zarnowski et al, 2021 ), it remains difficult to distinguish HPD and BPD from each other, and thus confusion in diagnosing remains ( Blagov & Westen, 2008 ). To clarify the eventual neural overlap between borderline and histrionic personalities, we want to test the hypothesis according to which the same circuits predicting borderline traits (derived from Aim 1) can successfully predict the histrionic traits in the same population (Aim 4).…”

Stereotactic Surgery of Parkinson’s Disease with Magnetic Resonance Imaging under Three‐Dimensional Mark Point Positioning Algorithm

“…The clinical diagnosis of PD mainly relies on symptoms, signs, routine blood sample examinations, medical history, and so on [ 8 ]. In the examination of head, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computerized tomography (CT) show no characteristic changes [ 9 ]. At present, there is no cure for PD, and the main treatment method is a combination of drugs and surgery.…”