Individuals with personality disorders may experience increased stigmatization due to their Quizlet

Recommended textbook solutions

Social Psychology

10th EditionElliot Aronson, Robin M. Akert, Samuel R. Sommers, Timothy D. Wilson

525 solutions

Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, Being

13th EditionMichael R Solomon

449 solutions

Myers' Psychology for the AP Course

3rd EditionC. Nathan DeWall, David G Myers

955 solutions

HDEV5

6th EditionSpencer A. Rathus

380 solutions

BPD runs in families. In the most methodologically rigorous study to date, the risk of having a BPD diagnosis was found to be four times higher in the biological relatives of patients with BPD than it was in the relatives of people who did not have a diagnosis of BPD.

Of course, we must keep in mind that just because a disorder runs in families does not invariably mean that this must be because of genes. However, in the case of BPD, we have many reasons to believe that genes are important. Indeed, they may account for 40 percent of the variance in the disorder

But do not take this to mean that BPD, as a disorder, is inherited. Rather, what is most likely inherited are genes that confer susceptibility to certain personality traits—traits such as neuroticism or impulsivity that are prominent aspects of BPD

These inherited traits are also not specific to BPD but instead confer risk for a range of other psychopathological conditions as well. Once you appreciate this, it becomes easier to understand why BPD is so often comorbid with other disorders. It also helps explain why we see mood and anxiety disorders, impulse control disorders, and other personality disorders in the family members of people diagnosed with BPD

Research to date has largely focused on candidate genes related to the serotonin system (serotonin is a neurotransmitter that is implicated in mood and impulsivity) and the dopamine system (dopamine is involved in impulse control, cognition, and sensitivity to reward, among other things- but the results have not been consistent.

This is important because environmental factors are thought to account for the largest proportion (55 percent) of variance in borderline traits. We also know that genes influence sensitivity to environmental stressors. With regard to the latter, child maltreatment and other extreme early life experiences have long been linked to BPD. Importantly, two prospective community-based studies have shown that childhood adversity and maltreatment increases the risk of developing BPD in adulthood. These studies are consistent with a wealth of retrospective research showing that people with this disorder usually report a large number of negative and sometimes traumatic events in childhood.

Although these figures are striking, childhood adversity cannot be regarded as a specific risk factor only for borderline pathology. It is reported at relatively high rates by people with all of the other personality disorders as well. For example, emotional abuse has been linked to all of the Big Five traits and is associated with increased neuroticism and greater openness, as well as less extroversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness

So how can we best understand the causes of BPD? At the present time, it is reasonable to suggest that some people, by virtue of their genetic predispositions, may be highly sensitive to the effects of negative early life experiences. These stressful early experiences may create long-term dysregulation of the HPA axis nd shape brain development, perhaps compromising key brain circuits that are involved in emotion regulation.

Neuroimaging studies suggest that BPD is associated with increased amygdala activation in emotion-inducing situations, as well as with reduced prefrontal regulation. But why these problems in brain functioning develop is still unknown. Although still speculative at this stage, we suggest that genetic factors may interact with negative childhood experiences to create problems in the neural circuits that are involved in regulating mood, thinking, and behavior. This helps explain why so many areas of functioning are affected in BPD and why people with this disorder find their emotions so difficult to control.