Enhanced interoceptive awareness in borderline personality disorder
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1
Institute of Psychology, University of Heidelberg, Germany
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is characterized by a pervasive pattern of instability in affect regulation and emotional dysregulation. Previous studies have found that the perception of bodily states is positively related to the experienced intensity of feelings as well as to the activity of first-order (insula, somatosensory cortex) and second-order (anterior cingulate cortex) brain structures involved in the processing of feelings. The present study aimed to investigate the neural underpinnings of interoceptive awareness in BPD patients. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain responses during a heartbeat perception task in 16 BPD patients and 22 healthy subjects. The results showed a significantly higher heart beat perception score in BPD patients relative to healthy controls. This was reflected in an increased brain activity in the right anterior insula, left insula, and left amygdala in BPD patients. The results highlight the possible role of enhanced interoceptive awareness in the development of BPD and may have further implications for theoretical models of BPD and their treatment.
Keywords:
Borderline Personality Disorder,
emotion
Conference:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Poster Sessions: Emotion, Motivation and the Social Brain
Citation:
Lang
S,
Frick
C and
Barnow
S
(2011). Enhanced interoceptive awareness in borderline personality disorder.
Conference Abstract:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00156
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Received:
17 Nov 2011;
Published Online:
28 Nov 2011.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Simone Lang, Institute of Psychology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, simone.lang@psychologie.uni-heidelberg.de