title: Psychophysiological assessment of emotional processing in patients with borderline personality disorder with and without comorbid substance use.
abstract: This study assessed physiological measures for the study of emotional dysregulation associated with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Two patient groups, the first comprised of individuals with BPD only (n = 16) and the second, individuals with BPD and co-occurring substance-use disorder (SUD; n = 35), and a group of healthy controls (n = 45) were shown standardized pictures of varying valance and arousal levels. Affective modification of startle eye-blink responses, heart rate, facial electromyography (EMG, including corrugator and zygomatic activity), and skin-conductance responses were collected during picture presentation and during a brief recovery period. Startle data during picture presentation indicated a trend toward the expected increase in startle response magnitude to negative stimuli, to be moderated by group status, with patients with BPD-SUD showing a lack of affective modification and the BPD-only group showing similar affective modification to that of controls. Heart-rate data suggested lower reactivity to negative pictures for both patient groups. Differences in facial EMG responses did not provide a clear pattern, and skin-conductance responses were not significantly different between groups. The data did not suggest differences between groups in recovery from exposure to the emotional stimuli. The startle and heart-rate data suggest a possible hyporeactivity to emotional stimuli in BPD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Rochester Institute of Technology, 1 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA. jsbgsh@rit.edu
authors.forename: Joseph S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Baschnagel
authors.forename: Scott F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Coffey
authors.forename: Larry W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Hawk
authors.forename: Julie A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Schumacher
authors.forename: Garland
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Holloman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D017831:Diagnosis, Dual (Psychiatry); D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004576:Electromyography; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011603:Psychophysiology; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*