Neurocognitive Deficits in Borderline Personality Disorder: Associations With Childhood Trauma and Dimensions of Personality Psychopathology

Marianne Skovgaard Thomsen; Anthony C Ruocco; Dean Carcone; Birgit Bork Mathiesen; Erik Simonsen

doi:10.1521/pedi_2016_30_265

Neurocognitive Deficits in Borderline Personality Disorder: Associations With Childhood Trauma and Dimensions of Personality Psychopathology

Marianne Skovgaard Thomsen, Anthony C Ruocco, Dean Carcone, Birgit Bork Mathiesen, Erik Simonsen

Department of Clinical Medicine

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The present study evaluates the severity of neurocognitive deficits and assesses their relations with self-reported childhood trauma and dimensions of personality psychopathology in 45 outpatients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) matched to 56 non-psychiatric controls. Participants completed a comprehensive battery of neurocognitive tests, a retrospective questionnaire on early life trauma and a dimensional measure of personality psychopathology. Patients with BPD primarily showed deficits in verbal comprehension, sustained visual attention, working memory and processing speed. Comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and an elevated childhood history of physical trauma were each accompanied by more severe neurocognitive deficits. There were no statistically significant associations between neurocognitive function and dimensions of personality psychopathology. These results suggest that patients with BPD display deficits mainly in higher-order thinking abilities that may be exacerbated by PTSD and substantial early life trauma. Potential relationships between neurocognitive deficits and dimensions of personality psychopathology in BPD need further examination.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Personality Disorders
Volume	31
Issue number	4
Pages (from-to)	503-521
ISSN	0885-579X
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi_2016_30_265
Publication status	Published - Aug 2017

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Neurocognitive Deficits in Borderline Personality Disorder: Associations With Childhood Trauma and Dimensions of Personality Psychopathology. / Thomsen, Marianne Skovgaard; Ruocco, Anthony C; Carcone, Dean et al.
In: Journal of Personality Disorders, Vol. 31, No. 4, 08.2017, p. 503-521.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

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Neurocognitive Deficits in Borderline Personality Disorder: Associations With Childhood Trauma and Dimensions of Personality Psychopathology

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