title: Depressive-type emotional response pattern in impulsive-aggressive patients with borderline personality disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is typically characterized by severe affective dysregulation leading to impulsive behaviors. Accordingly, preliminary data suggest the hypothesis that BPD patients could have a specific and altered pattern of subjective emotional response to stimuli. The nature of the emotional response in BPD can be compared with other affective disorders and provide further insight on the nosological proximity with other psychiatric disorders.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjective emotional response was investigated in 19 patients with DSM-IV BPD with no current depressive episode and in 19 healthy control subjects by using the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). The intensity of arousal, valence and dominance was rated in response to 60 images categorized as pleasant, unpleasant and neutral by using a self-assessment instrument. ANOVA of multiple factors was used for between-groups comparisons.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The obtained pattern showed that BPD patients considered the unpleasant and neutral images as less aversive than controls, but the activation that these images induced was higher. Patients showed significantly greater arousal than controls for unpleasant and neutral images (p<0.05) but presented greater valence (more positive emotion) for these images (p<0.05). In addition, BPD patients showed lower dominance (greater insecurity and dyscomfort) for positive images (p<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The subjective emotional response pattern of BPD patients suggests a trait of vulnerability to pleasant stimuli and is similar to the pattern found in depressive patients in previous studies. This supports the evidence that BPD could in part be related with the spectrum of the affective temperament and affective disorders.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicología, Universidad Metropolitana, Hospital Neuropsiquiátrico Jesús Mata de Gregorio, Caracas, Venezuela.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jayaro
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: De La Vega
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bayon-Palomino
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Díaz-Marsá
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Montes
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tajima
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: López-Ibor
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Carrasco
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D007174:Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012647:Self-Assessment; D055815:Young Adult