Dear Colleagues,

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a complex disorder with large inter-individual variability in symptom profiles, which may include impaired relatedness (unstable relationships with others, identity disturbance, and chronic emptiness), affective dysregulation (affective liability, excessive anger, and efforts to avoid abandonment), and behavior dysregulation (impulsivity, suicidality, and self-injurious behavior). The problematic nature of BPD is characterized by self-mutilation, suicide attempts, addictions, and episodes of depression, anxiety, and aggression, which produce substantial healthcare-related and social-related costs. Psychotherapy is considered the primary treatment for BPD, and this is effective in reducing overall borderline personality disorder severity. Affective neurosciences have shown functional impairment associated with BPD in the default mode network (DMN), the salience network (SN), and the central executive network (CEN), accounting for disturbances in emotion regulation, social cognition, and all emotion-related functions. Consistently, early evidence has reported effects of treatments in these neural systems. The scope of this Special Issue is to provide a venue for the dissemination of research findings from the study of brain mechanisms in BPD and its treatment, including studies focused on concepts that may have clinical implications for the treatment of BPD (for example, emotion regulation/dysregulation, self-harm, social cognition, and others). We encourage the submission of original articles based on experimental research and neuroimaging studies applying novel techniques, as well as review articles and meta-analyses, which may enhance the understanding of processes and mechanisms underlying and maintaining BPD.

Dr. Irene Messina
Guest Editor

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• borderline
• psychotherapy
• neuroimaging
• treatment
• early detection