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Differential engagement of the fronto-limbic network during emotion processing distinguishes bipolar and borderline personality disorder

Molecular Psychiatry volume 18, pages 1247–1248 (2013)Cite this article

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Bipolar disorder (BD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) are common and burdensome psychiatric illnesses that are difficult to distinguish, primarily because emotion dysregulation is a core feature of both.1 Normally, emotion regulation involves both ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ processes of control and regulatory feedback that engage the fronto-limbic network (FLN),2 and it is hypothesized that disturbances in this network produce the vicissitudes of mood and affective lability that characterize BD and BPD, respectively. Within the FLN, it is the dorsolateral, ventrolateral and medial prefrontal cortices (dl-PFC, vl-PFC and m-PFC) along with limbic structures, such as the amygdala (Ag) and hippocampus that have been most commonly implicated in emotion processing and regulation.2

To determine the differences between BD and BPD in engaging this network, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and the emotional Stroop task, which requires the inhibition of interference from emotional stimuli while performing a cognitive task. We also investigated whether differential neural responses could explain clinical differences in the phenomenology of the two disorders.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, CADE Clinic, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    G S Malhi, M Tanious, K Fritz, C M Coulston, D M Bargh & P Das

  2. Discipline of Psychiatry, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    G S Malhi, M Tanious, K Fritz, C M Coulston, D M Bargh & P Das

  3. Advanced Research and Clinical Highfield Imaging (ARCHI), University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    G S Malhi, M Tanious, K Fritz, C M Coulston, D M Bargh & P Das

  4. Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    K L Phan

  5. Mental Health Service Line, Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA

    K L Phan

  6. Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    K L Phan

  7. The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    V Calhoun

  8. Department of ECE, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    V Calhoun

Authors
  1. G S Malhi
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  2. M Tanious
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  3. K Fritz
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  4. C M Coulston
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  7. V Calhoun
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  8. P Das
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to G S Malhi.

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Competing interests

GSM has received grant or research support from NHMRC, NSW Health, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Co., Organon, Pfizer, Servier and Wyeth; has been a speaker for AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Co., Janssen Cilag, Lundbeck, Pfizer, Ranbaxy, Servier and Wyeth; and has been a consultant for AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Co., Janssen Cilag, Lundbeck and Servier. VC has received research support from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and Department of Energy, has done some legal consultation, has performed grant reviews for the National Institutes of Health and other agencies; has guest-edited journal sections; has given academic lectures in various scientific venues; and has generated books or book chapters for publishers of various texts. MT, KF, CMC, DMB, KLP and PD have no conflicts of interest to report.

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Malhi, G., Tanious, M., Fritz, K. et al. Differential engagement of the fronto-limbic network during emotion processing distinguishes bipolar and borderline personality disorder. Mol Psychiatry 18, 1247–1248 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2013.22

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