Oxytocin and Borderline Personality Disorder

Bertsch, Katja; Herpertz, Sabine C.

doi:10.1007/7854_2017_26

Cited by 23 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…A growing number of reports suggest abnormalities in the endocrinology, neurochemistry, neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of patients with BPD. Endocrinological alterations include hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis dysfunction [48], [49], [50], [51], reduction in peripheral oxytocin levels [52,53] and elevated peripheral testosterone levels [54]. Like other common psychiatric disorders, cerebral monoamine dysregulation is also apparent in BPD.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cortical haemodynamic response measured by functional near infrared spectroscopy during a verbal fluency task in patients with major depression and borderline personality disorder

Husain

Tang²,

et al. 2020

EBioMedicine

117

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A B S T R A C TBackground: Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) provides a direct and quantitative assessment of cortical haemodynamic function during a cognitive task. This functional neuroimaging modality may be used to elucidate the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders, and identify neurophysiological differences between co-occurring psychiatric disorders. However, fNIRS research on borderline personality disorder (BPD) has been limited. Hence, this study aimed to compare cerebral haemodynamic function in healthy controls (HC), patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and patients with BPD. Methods: fNIRS signals during a verbal fluency task designed for clinical assessment was recorded for all participants. Demographics, clinical history and symptom severity were also noted. Findings: Compared to HCs (n = 31), both patient groups (MDD, n = 31; BPD, n = 31) displayed diminished haemodynamic response in the frontal, temporal and parietal cortices. Moreover, haemodynamic response in the right frontal cortex is markedly lower in patients with MDD compared to patients with BPD. Interpretation: Normal cortical function in patients with BPD is disrupted, but not as extensively as in patients with MDD. These results provide further neurophysiological evidence for the distinction of patients with MDD from patients with BPD.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cortical haemodynamic response measured by functional near infrared spectroscopy during a verbal fluency task in patients with major depression and borderline personality disorder

Husain

Tang²,

et al. 2020

EBioMedicine

117

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Recently, oxytocin has become a rising topic in BPD research and is currently tested as an adjuvant in the treatment of BPD (18). Although the number of studies investigating the effects of oxytocin in BPD is still small and results remain heterogeneous, the first beneficial effects of oxytocin on threat processing have been reported: First, the intranasal administration of oxytocin reduced BPD patients' attention bias to angry faces in a dot probe task (19).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxytocin Normalizes Approach–Avoidance Behavior in Women With Borderline Personality Disorder

et al. 2020

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Background: Interpersonal deficits are a core symptom of borderline personality disorder (BPD), which could be related to increased social threat sensitivity and a tendency to approach rather than avoid interpersonal threats. The neuropeptide oxytocin has been shown to reduce threat sensitivity in patients with BPD and to modify approach-avoidance behavior in healthy volunteers.Methods: In a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled between-subject design, 53 unmedicated women with BPD and 61 healthy women participated in an approach-avoidance task 75 min after intranasal substance administration (24 IU of oxytocin or placebo). The task assesses automatic approach-avoidance tendencies in reaction to facial expressions of happiness and anger.Results: While healthy participants responded faster to happy than angry faces, the opposite response pattern, that is, faster reactions to angry than happy faces, was found in patients with BPD. In the oxytocin condition, the "congruency effect" (i.e., faster avoidance of facial anger and approach of facial happiness vice versa) was increased in both groups. Notably, patients with BPD exhibited a congruency effect toward angry faces in the oxytocin but not in the placebo condition.Conclusions: This is the second report of deficient fast, automatic avoidance responses in terms of approach behavior toward interpersonal threat cues in patients with BPD. Intranasally administered oxytocin was found to strengthen avoidance behavior to social threat cues and, thus, to normalize fast action tendencies in BPD. Together with the previously reported oxytocinergic reduction of social threat hypersensitivity, these results suggest beneficial effects of oxytocin on interpersonal dysfunctioning in BPD.

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“…Meanwhile, much progress has been made in treating patients with BPD who have for decades been stigmatized for not being treatable. While no traditional psychotropic drugs such as antidepressants, neuroleptics, and mood stabilizers show convincing effects on BPD psychopathology [3], new psychotropic substances are currently being tested, with oxytocin having proved to be a particularly promising drug that needs to be further studied [4, 5]. More significantly, disorder-specific psychotherapies have been developed such as dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), mentalization-based therapy (MBT), transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP), and general psychiatric management (GPM), which have shown to be superior to treatment as usual (TAU) [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurobiological Mechanisms Mediating Emotion Dysregulation as Targets of Change in Borderline Personality Disorder

et al. 2018

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Emotion dysregulation is a hallmark of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Most interventions for patients with BPD, therefore, aim at the improvement of emotion regulation. In the current paper, we provide an overview of studies investigating the effects of psychotherapeutic or pharmacological interventions on neurobiological correlates of various aspects of emotion regulation. In fact, studies suggest that the prefrontal-limbic circuit may play a major role in mediating effects of clinically efficacious psychotherapeutic treatments, i.e., they lead to clinical improvement via modulating the function and structure of the amygdala, the insula, and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, as well as prefrontal areas involved in the cognitive regulation of emotions, and enhancing the coupling of limbic and prefrontal areas. Oxytocin as a promising pharmacological approach to emotion dysregulation in BPD was shown to dampen amygdala activity in response to emotional stimuli. Understanding the brain mechanisms that mediate treatment effects will harness further development of targeted mechanism-based interventions for patients with BPD.

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Oxytocin and Borderline Personality Disorder

Cited by 23 publications

References 66 publications

Cortical haemodynamic response measured by functional near infrared spectroscopy during a verbal fluency task in patients with major depression and borderline personality disorder

Cortical haemodynamic response measured by functional near infrared spectroscopy during a verbal fluency task in patients with major depression and borderline personality disorder

Oxytocin Normalizes Approach–Avoidance Behavior in Women With Borderline Personality Disorder

Neurobiological Mechanisms Mediating Emotion Dysregulation as Targets of Change in Borderline Personality Disorder

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