<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This review summarizes recent neurobiological research into youth with borderline personality disorder (BPD) to better delineate the biological factors involved in the development of this disorder. Psychobiological studies when BPD first becomes manifest are of particular interest, because there are fewer confounding factors (e.g., duration of illness, drug abuse, medication, other therapeutic interventions) at this time. This article focuses on recent findings in the field of neuroimaging, neuropsychology, neuroendocrinology, genetics, and pain perception, and it aims to integrate these findings in a developmental psychopathology model of BPD. In studies of clinical samples of adults with BPD, structural imaging studies revealed abnormalities predominantly in the frontolimbic areas. Disturbances in emotional information processing—particularly involving negative stimuli—may mediate affective dysregulation as a core feature of BPD. Genetic studies could reveal that the stability of BPD traits in youth is largely influenced by a combination of genetic and non-shared environmental factors. Hyporesponsiveness to a laboratory stressor indicates an enduring alteration of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. Findings of a higher pain threshold indicate that pain processing is already disturbed during the early stages of BPD, which could contribute to the initiation or maintenance of self-injurious behavior. All biological factors, together with environmental risk factors, may contribute to the core symptoms of BPD: severe emotional and behavioral dysregulation. Further research should investigate the development of BPD in youth by using longitudinal designs to determine whether the neurobiological factors are a cause, an effect, or an epiphenomenon of BPD.</p></abstract>

This review summarizes recent neurobiological research into youth with borderline personality disorder (BPD) to better delineate the biological factors involved in the development of this disorder. Psychobiological studies when BPD first becomes manifest are of particular interest, because there are fewer confounding factors (e.g., duration of illness, drug abuse, medication, other therapeutic interventions) at this time. This article focuses on recent findings in the field of neuroimaging, neuropsychology, neuroendocrinology, genetics, and pain perception, and it aims to integrate these findings in a developmental psychopathology model of BPD. In studies of clinical samples of adults with BPD, structural imaging studies revealed abnormalities predominantly in the frontolimbic areas. Disturbances in emotional information processing—particularly involving negative stimuli—may mediate affective dysregulation as a core feature of BPD. Genetic studies could reveal that the stability of BPD traits in youth is largely influenced by a combination of genetic and non-shared environmental factors. Hyporesponsiveness to a laboratory stressor indicates an enduring alteration of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. Findings of a higher pain threshold indicate that pain processing is already disturbed during the early stages of BPD, which could contribute to the initiation or maintenance of self-injurious behavior. All biological factors, together with environmental risk factors, may contribute to the core symptoms of BPD: severe emotional and behavioral dysregulation. Further research should investigate the development of BPD in youth by using longitudinal designs to determine whether the neurobiological factors are a cause, an effect, or an epiphenomenon of BPD.

Neurobiological Findings in Youth with Borderline Personality Disorder

Scandinavian Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Neurobiological Findings in Youth with Borderline Personality Disorder"}

This review summarizes recent neurobiological research into youth with borderline personality disorder (BPD) to better delineate the biological factors...

Neurobiological Findings in Youth with Borderline Personality Disorder

Article Category: review

Published Online: Nov 30, 2014

Page range: 22 - 30

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/sjcapp-2015-003

Keywords
borderline personality disorder, adolescents, developmental pathways, neurobiology, neuroimaging, genetics, pain perception, neuroendocrinology, neuropsychology

© 2015 Romuald Brunner et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Neurobiological Findings in Youth with Borderline Personality Disorder

Article Category: review

Published Online: Nov 30, 2014

Page range: 22 - 30

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/sjcapp-2015-003

Keywordsborderline personality disorder, adolescents, developmental pathways, neurobiology, neuroimaging, genetics, pain perception, neuroendocrinology, neuropsychology

© 2015 Romuald Brunner et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
borderline personality disorder, adolescents, developmental pathways, neurobiology, neuroimaging, genetics, pain perception, neuroendocrinology, neuropsychology