An area of the brain called the rostromedial prefrontal does not function the same way in patients with borderline personality disorder.
- People with borderline disorder exhibit high instability and hypersensitivity in social relationships.
- Researchers have identified an area of the brain that reacts differently in these patients.
- This discovery could help improve the management of this disorder.
Borderline personality disorder, borderline in English, is characterized by high instability and hypersensitivity in relationships with others. In situations of rejection or social exclusion, those affected feel great distress. However, scientists have difficulty understanding the manifestation of this symptom in the brain. In Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimagingresearchers say they have identified a brain area that reacts differently in people with the disorder: the rostromedial prefrontal.
Borderline people react differently to social rejection
The scientists, from the City College of New York, Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, recruited 23 women with borderline personality disorder and 22 women without the disorder to form a control group. They underwent various brain scans, while the participants were asked to rate the level of rejection they felt in different situations.The brain responds to rejection by creating rostromedial prefrontal activity, as if there was something ‘bad’ in the environment, explain the authors. This brain activity may initiate an attempt to reestablish and maintain close social bonds to survive and thrive.“They also clarified that this region of the brain is activated when people try to understand the behavior of others based on their mental and emotional state. However, in patients with borderline personality disorder, no activity occurs in the rostromedial prefrontal cortex when they are rejected.
Improving the management of borderline disorder
“Inactivity of the rostromedial prefrontal cortex during rejection may explain why people with borderline personality disorder are more sensitive and distressed by rejection, the study suggests. Eric A. Fertuck, lead author of this work. Understanding why people with this disorder experience emotional distress when rejected will help us develop more targeted therapies.”
Currently, treatment for people with borderline personality disorder is provided through psychotherapy and various medications, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which are also used for people suffering from depression.
The scientist and his team continue to lead trials to understand the role of social rejection in different mental health disorders such as post-traumatic stress, depression or social anxiety.