Researchers from The City College of New York, Columbia University, and the New York State Psychiatric Institute have made significant strides towards improving the diagnosis and treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).
Their new study, titled “Rejection Distress Suppresses Medial Prefrontal Cortex in Borderline Personality Disorder,” published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, focuses on a brain region known as the rostro-medial prefrontal cortex.
This area of the brain becomes particularly active when individuals experience rejection.
In most people, rejection triggers an increase in activity in the rostro-medial prefrontal cortex, signalling something is “wrong” in their environment.
This increased activity might stimulate attempts to reestablish and preserve close social bonds, which are crucial for survival and well-being.
The rostro-medial prefrontal cortex also activates when individuals try to comprehend others’ actions in relation to their mental and emotional states.
BPD and the Rostro-medial Prefrontal Cortex
However, the study found that individuals with BPD, a disorder characterized by intense emotional instability and sensitivity to rejection, do not exhibit this increased brain activity when rejected.
Eric A. Fertuck, the study’s lead author and an associate professor at CCNY, suggests that the lack of rostro-medial prefrontal cortex activity during rejection might explain why individuals with BPD are overly sensitive and distressed by rejection.
“Understanding why individuals with this debilitating and high-risk disorder experience emotional distress to rejection goes awry will help us develop more targeted therapies for BPD,” Fertuck stated.
Advancing Research and Diagnosis
Although previous studies have yielded mixed results, Fertuck believes that this study improves upon past research through more precise and specific rejection assessment methods.
Future investigations are already underway, exploring the role of social rejection in other mental health issues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and social anxiety.
Fertuck leads the Social Neuroscience and Psychopathology (SNAP) lab at the Colin Powell School.
The lab’s work aims to advance a collaborative research program that bridges the clinical understanding of BPD and related psychopathology, psychotherapy research, experimental psychopathology, and social neuroscience.
This research could have significant implications for understanding and treating BPD.
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The study was published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.
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