title: Acoustic Emotional Processing in Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder: Hyper- or Hyporeactivity?
abstract: Earlier studies have demonstrated emotional overreactions to affective visual stimuli in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, contradictory findings regarding hyper- versus hyporeactivity have been reported for peripheral physiological measures. In order to extend previous results, the authors investigated emotional reactivity and long-term habituation in the acoustic modality. Twenty-two female BPD patients and 19 female nonclinical controls listened to emotionally negative, neutral, and positive sounds in two identical sessions. Heart rate, skin conductance, zygomaticus/corrugator muscle, and self-reported valence/arousal responses were measured. BPD patients showed weaker skin conductance responses to negative sounds than controls. The elevated zygomaticus activity in response to positive sounds observed in controls was absent in BPD patients, and BPD patients assigned lower valence ratings to positive sounds than controls. In Session 2, patients recognized fewer positive sounds than controls. Across both groups, physiological measures habituated between sessions. These findings add to growing evidence toward partial affective hyporeactivity in BPD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Monique C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Pfaltz
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schumacher
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy, and Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Austria.
authors.forename: Frank H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Wilhelm
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Clinic Muensterlingen, Switzerland.|Psychiatric University Hospital Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dammann
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Erich
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Seifritz
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Martin-Soelch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004576:Electromyography; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology