Flasbeck Vera, Popkirov Stoyan, Brüne Martin
LWL University Hospital Bochum, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, Division of Cognitive Neuropsychiatry and Psychiatric Preventive Medicine, Ruhr-University, Alexandrinenstr 1, 44791 Bochum, Germany.
Department of Neurology, University Hospital Knappschaftskrankenhaus Bochum, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
Borderline Personal Disord Emot Dysregul. 2017 Sep 29;4:20. doi: 10.1186/s40479-017-0071-7. eCollection 2017.
Frontal EEG asymmetry is a widely studied correlate of emotion processing and psychopathology. Recent research suggests that frontal EEG asymmetry during resting state is related to approach/withdrawal motivation and is also found in affective disorders such as major depressive disorder. Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) show aberrant behavior in relation to both approach and withdrawal motivation, which may arguably be associated with their difficulties in emotion processing. The occurrence and significance of frontal EEG asymmetry in BPD, however, has received little attention.
Thirty-seven BPD patients and 39 controls underwent resting EEG and completed several psychometric questionnaires. While there were no between-group differences in frontal EEG asymmetry, in BPD frontal EEG asymmetry scores correlated significantly with alexithymia. That is, higher alexithymia scores were associated with relatively lower right-frontal activity. A subsequent analysis corroborated the significant interaction between frontal EEG asymmetry and alexithymia, which was moderated by group.
Our findings reveal that lower right frontal EEG asymmetry is associated with alexithymia in patients with BPD. This finding is in accordance with neurophysiological models of alexithymia that implicate a right hemisphere impairment in emotion processing, and could suggest frontal EEG asymmetry as a potential biomarker of relevant psychopathology in these patients.
额叶脑电图不对称性是情绪加工和精神病理学领域广泛研究的一个关联因素。近期研究表明，静息状态下的额叶脑电图不对称性与趋近/回避动机有关，并且在诸如重度抑郁症等情感障碍中也有发现。边缘型人格障碍（BPD）患者在趋近和回避动机方面均表现出异常行为，这可能与他们在情绪加工方面的困难相关。然而，BPD中额叶脑电图不对称性的发生情况及意义却很少受到关注。
37名BPD患者和39名对照者接受了静息脑电图检查，并完成了几份心理测量问卷。虽然两组在额叶脑电图不对称性方面没有差异，但在BPD患者中，额叶脑电图不对称性得分与述情障碍显著相关。也就是说，述情障碍得分越高，右侧额叶活动相对越低。随后的分析证实了额叶脑电图不对称性与述情障碍之间的显著交互作用，且该作用受组别调节。
我们的研究结果表明，BPD患者中较低的右侧额叶脑电图不对称性与述情障碍有关。这一发现与述情障碍的神经生理学模型一致，该模型认为情绪加工中存在右半球功能受损，并且可能提示额叶脑电图不对称性是这些患者相关精神病理学的潜在生物标志物。
