Innovative real-time fMRI neurofeedback protocol for management of emotion regulation impairment in patients with borderline personality disorder
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| Year of publication | 2018 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | Real-time fMRI neurofeedback (rt-fMRI-NF) is a promising non-invasive method that allows people to see and voluntarily regulate their own brain activity. Our project focuses on emotion regulation impairment in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Emotion dysregulation in BPD patients is often associated with high impulsivity that can manifest as a wide range of dangerous and destructive behavior. Therefore, improvement of the emotion regulation skills represents one of the key points in therapy of BPD patients. Previous study has shown that rt-fMRI-NF of amygdala can enhance emotion regulation and emotion awareness in patients with BPD. However, controlled studies are needed. In our forthcoming study, patients with BPD will be randomly assigned to experimental and control group. Participants in the control group will undergo the same procedure as participants in the experimental group, just without neurofeedback presentation. Moreover, we will teach BPD patients specific strategies how to regulate their intensive emotions. During fMRI-NF session, participants will be instructed to use these strategies to downregulate their amygdala activity while watching negative pictures. This procedure will allow patients to continually evaluate which strategies lead to successful downregulation of amygdala activity and can considerably enhance learning of appropriate emotion regulation strategies. The poster presents protocol of forthcoming study that is supported by Specific University Research project nr. MUNI/A/0976/2017 by Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of the Czech Republic and Development of Research Organization nr. FNBr, 65269705 by Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic. |
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