Toward a new model of borderline personality disorder: a psychophysiological approach on the link between emotional and behavioural dysregulation

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is one of the most studied personality disorders, given its prevalence and the severity of its symptoms. In the last years, several models of the disorder were presented, however, no one of this theoretical conceptualization is completely supported by the litera...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Galli, Marco
Tipo de recurso: tesis doctoral
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:CBUC, CESCA
Repositorio:TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red
OAI Identifier:oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/691494
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10803/691494
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Borderline personality disorder
Emotion
Psychophysiology
Executive functioning
Eye-tracking
Mindfulness
004
616.89
Descripción
Sumario:Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is one of the most studied personality disorders, given its prevalence and the severity of its symptoms. In the last years, several models of the disorder were presented, however, no one of this theoretical conceptualization is completely supported by the literature. This thesis aims to present an evidence-based alternative model of the disorder. A central core in BPD pathology is related to the connection between emotional and behavioural dysregulations that characterize these subjects. Emotional dysregulation processes in BPD subjects seem to be elicited by specific difficulties in difficulties in neuroception -the unconscious perception of dangers and threats present in the subject's surroundings- rather than being generally triggered. This could be due to differences in analyzing social contexts given by attentional and cognitive biases and to the ruminative states caused by the difficulties reported in the social environment. The studies presented in this dissertation analyze the effect of negative affective states on executive performance, emotional response, and attentional biases, in response to socio-emotional cues, and the efficacy of a mindfulness exercise in reducing negative affective states. Self-reported, behavioural, physiological, and eye-tracking data were collected and analyzed during the tasks. Finally, starting from the results obtained in these studies, and the data presented in the literature a model of BPD emotional functioning will be presented.