Empathy for somatic and psychological pain in patients with Borderline Personality Disorder

• Applicant: Dr. Vera Flasbeck
• Subject Area: Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ; Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 497230718

Borderline personality disorder (BPS) is a very common personality disorder (approx. 2% of the population is affected), which is mainly associated with impairments in social interactions. Symptoms such as emotional instability, impulsiveness, fear of being abandoned, emptiness and self-harming behaviors are also characteristics of the BPS. The development of this personality disorder is suggested to emerge following adverse childhood experiences with early caregivers or traumatization. How exactly, and under which conditions, social interaction is disturbed in BPD has so far been investigated insufficiently. Therefore, the present project proposed here aims to identify the neural basis of the altered social interaction in BPD by assessing empathy of patients with BPD. More detailed, we aim to utilize the Social Interaction Empathy Task (SIET) in an fMRI version in order to investigate empathy for somatic pain as well as empathy for psychological pain in one study-under the same experimental conditions. This paradigm also provides the possibility to examine the impact of the perspective the participants are asked to adopt. By using fMRI scans during the SIET, we will be able to investigate whether and to what extent brain activation differs between empathy for somatic and empathy for psychological pain. Furthermore, we aim to examine the difference between activation during the first and third person perspectives. This study also intend to investigate the neuronal correlates of the differences observed at the behavioral level between patients with BPD and healthy volunteers. In order to further identify modulating factors of BPD and empathy, the baseline oxytocin level and the oxytocin level during the SIET will be analyzed, separately for empathy for somatic and psychological pain. In addition, we will assess trait empathy, borderline symptom severity, including self-harming behavior, and rejection sensitivity and examine the association of this variables with brain activation and behavior during the SIET. The findings of the study will serve insights into the causes of impaired social interaction in patients with BPD. The gained knowledge about neuronal correlates may be helpful for the development of possible treatment methods for BPD.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigators: Professor Dr. Martin Brüne; Dr. Björn Enzi