A Neuroscience-Oriented Research Approach to Borderline Personality Disorder

Abstract

Traditionally, the study of personality disorders had been based on psychoanalytic or behavioral models. Over the past two decades, there has been an emerging neuroscience model of borderline personality disorder (BPD) grounded in the concept of BPD as a condition in which dysfunctional neural circuits underlie its pathological dimensions, some of which include emotion dysregulation (broadly encompassing affective instability, negative affectivity, and hyperarousal), abnormal interpersonal functioning, and impulsive aggression. This article, initiated at a joint Columbia University- Cornell University Think Tank on BPD with representation from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, suggests how to advance research in BPD by studying the dimensions that underlie BPD in addition to studying the disorder as a unitary diagnostic entity. We suggest that linking the underlying neurobiological abnormalities to behavioral symptoms of the disorder can inform a research agenda to better understand BPD with its multiple presentations.