Assessment of Affect Instability in Adolescent Girls with BPD Features

描述（由申请人提供）：边缘型人格障碍（BPD）的发展心理病理学方法需要阐明我们对这种复杂和衰弱性疾病的理解。BPD功能障碍的多方面性质使得该疾病特别难以进行实证研究和临床治疗。有必要确定可能导致该疾病病因的特征，以最终帮助预防和干预工作。AI是BPD的核心特征，它驱动其他特征的发展，包括认知障碍，冲动行为，身份混淆和人际功能障碍1-3。通过在正常发展的背景下研究情感调节的过程，我们可以深入了解出错并导致AI的过程。我已经开发了关于青春期女孩BPD途径上的情感调节过程的假设。在青春期，社会期望、生物学和荷尔蒙的快速变化增加了对情感调节技能的要求。因此，青春期是检查BPD特征表现中的情感调节的最佳时间。具体来说，AI水平高的女孩会发展出其他BPD特征（冲动、人际功能障碍和身份障碍）。本建议书中描述的培训和研究计划旨在使我能够检验这些说法的有效性。需要情境相关的范式和超越自我报告问卷的改进方法来研究人工智能及其发展后果。在拟议的研究中，我将研究青春期女孩在高和低AI水平下的瞳孔扩张模式以及与母亲的面对面互动。这些方法允许对AI进行心理生理和观察评估。这一建议将促进我们对BPD发展协会的理解，BPD是一个昂贵且重要的心理健康问题4，5。这项工作将解决NIMH的战略目标，促进“发现大脑和行为科学，以燃料对精神疾病的原因研究。" 公共卫生相关性：边缘型人格障碍（BPD）是一种毁灭性和复杂的精神疾病，每年影响近200万成年人，与几种负面结果有关，包括社会耻辱，治疗反应差，以及社会，职业和学术成果差6-10。迫切需要研究BPD症状的发展过程。这项拟议的研究旨在使用多种评估方法来研究情感不稳定（AI）在青春期女孩边缘性人格特征发展中的作用，从而改善针对AI的干预措施，并可能在青春期产生比成年期更大的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A developmental psychopathology approach to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is needed to elucidate our understanding of this complex and debilitating disorder. The multifaceted nature of dysfunction in BPD makes the disorder especially difficult to empirically research and clinically treat. There is a need to identify features that might contribute to the etiology of the disorder to ultimately aid prevention and intervention efforts. AI is a core BPD feature that drives the development of other features including cognitive disturbances, impulsive behaviors, identity confusion, and interpersonal dysfunction 1-3. By examining the processes of affect regulation in the context of normal development, we can gain insights into processes that go awry and lead to AI. I have developed hypotheses about affect regulation processes on the pathway to BPD in adolescent girls. The rapid changes in social expectations, biology, and hormones during adolescence increase the demands on affect regulation skills. Thus, adolescence is an optimal time to examine affect regulation in the manifestation of BPD features. Specifically, girls with high levels of AI will develop other BPD features (impulsivity, interpersonal dysfunction, and identity disturbances). The training and research plans described in this proposal are designed to enable me to test the validity of these claims. Contextually relevant paradigms and improved methodologies going beyond self-report questionnaires are needed to examine AI and its developmental consequences. In the proposed study, I will examine both the pupil dilation patterns of adolescent girls at high and low levels of AI and face-to-face interactions with their mothers. These methodologies allow for both the psychophysiological and observational assessment of AI. This proposal will advance our understanding of the developmental associations of BPD, a costly and significant mental health problem4,5. This work will address the NIMH strategic objective of promoting "Discovery in the Brain and Behavioral Sciences to Fuel Research on the Causes of Mental Disorders." PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a devastating and complex psychiatric condition affecting nearly 2 million adults annually that is associated with several negative outcomes, including social stigma, poor treatment response, and poor social, occupational, and academic outcomes 6-10. There is a critical need for research that addresses the developmental course of BPD symptoms. The proposed study seeks to examine the role of affect instability(AI) in the development of borderline personality features in adolescent girls using multiple assessment methods, resulting in improved intervention efforts that target AI and may have a higher impact during adolescence than adulthood.