Pain and pleasure: affective somatosensory processing and emotion regulation in borderline personality disorder

先前的证据表明，疼痛在边缘型人格障碍（BPD）中情绪调节紊乱的背景下起着重要作用。然而，由于有证据表明疼痛和快乐都有共同的神经生物学基础，我们有理由假设，bpd相关的感觉情感输入处理的改变不仅限于负面评价的体感刺激，而且还影响通常被积极评价的体感输入的处理。我们自己的初步研究结果表明，BPD患者不仅对疼痛的敏感性降低，而且对愉快触摸（PT）的敏感性也降低，这是一种由c -触觉纤维介导的正价体感知觉，在非临床个体中，它对非语言社会交流和压力缓解很重要。然而，紊乱的PT加工的实际性质、其神经基础及其与BPD中紊乱的社会过程的相互作用仍然未知。因此，本项目以BPD为研究重点，有三个目标：(1)情感躯体感觉加工紊乱的特征及其与BPD精神病理和病因因素的关系；(2)阐明与愉悦和不愉悦躯体感觉刺激相关的神经网络活动；(3)评估情感触摸对社会压力的影响。维度评估的人格病理学，非自杀自残行为，以及创伤史将与感知和行为特征有关。我们期望这些发现将揭示BPD中情感体感加工的未知机制及其与情绪调节的关系。

Previous evidence points to a significant role of pain in the context of disturbed emotion regulation in borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, since there is evidence for a common neurobiology underlying both pain and pleasure, there is reason to assume that BPD-associated alterations in the processing of sensory-affective input are not restricted to negatively evaluated somatosensory stimulation, but also affect the processing of somatosensory input which usually is positively evaluated. Our own preliminary results suggest that individuals with BPD not only report reduced sensitivity to pain, but also to pleasant touch (PT), that is, a somatosensory percept with positive valence mediated by C-tactile fibres, which in non-clinical individuals is important for non-verbal social communication and associated with stress relief. However, the actual nature of disturbed PT processing, its neural underpinnings, and its interaction with disturbed social processes in BPD are still unknown. Focusing on BPD, this project therefore has three aims: (1) the characterization of disturbed affective somatosensory processing and its relationship to BPD psychopathology and aetiological factors, (2) the elucidation of neural network activity associated with pleasant and unpleasant somatosensory stimulation, and (3) the evaluation of the effects of affective touch on social stress. Dimensionally assessed personality pathology, non-suicidal self-injurious behaviour, as well as a history of traumatization will be related to perceptual and behavioural characteristics. We expect that the findings will reveal unknown mechanisms underlying affective somatosensory processing and its relationship to emotion regulation in BPD.