Patients with borderline personality disorder show initially reduced psychophysiological relaxation levels but intact relaxation response
Introduction: Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is associated with psychological as well as physiological dysregulation in patients, including reduced parasympathetic activity at baseline and difficulties returning to baseline after a stressor. Whether this impacts the relaxation response indepe...
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Elsevier
2025-10-01
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| Series: | Comprehensive Psychiatry |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010440X2500046X |
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| author | Raphaela J. Gaertner Elea S.C. Klink Annika B.E. Benz Bernadette F. Denk Maria Meier Stella Wienhold Nina Volkmer Katharina E. Kossmann Jens C. Pruessner |
| author_facet | Raphaela J. Gaertner Elea S.C. Klink Annika B.E. Benz Bernadette F. Denk Maria Meier Stella Wienhold Nina Volkmer Katharina E. Kossmann Jens C. Pruessner |
| author_sort | Raphaela J. Gaertner |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction: Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is associated with psychological as well as physiological dysregulation in patients, including reduced parasympathetic activity at baseline and difficulties returning to baseline after a stressor. Whether this impacts the relaxation response independent of a stressor has so far not been investigated. Methods: In a within-subject design, we compared two relaxation interventions, a virtual reality nature video, and a paced breathing intervention. We assessed a female-only sample, with 20 BPD patients (meanage = 23.75 ± 4.39) during their inpatient treatment and 22 matched healthy controls (HC; meanage = 22.68 ± 2.68). Psychological relaxation was assessed with the Relaxation State Questionnaire (RSQ) and physiological relaxation with vagally mediated heart rate variability (HRV). Results: We employed multilevel models to test whether BPD significantly influenced the psychophysiological relaxation response. For psychological relaxation, we found an increase in RSQ scores in both groups in response to both interventions. The HC showed overall higher RSQ scores. For physiological relaxation, we found overall higher HRV values in the HC group but no differences in the relaxation response. Conclusion: BPD patients exhibit lower psychophysiological relaxation levels at baseline and throughout the experiment, while there was no significant difference in response to relaxation interventions when compared to HC. Future studies should focus on interventions targeting baseline psychophysiological relaxation in BPD patients. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8de0b01cb735405bb53ccb18b4c20b98 |
| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 0010-440X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-10-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Comprehensive Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj-art-8de0b01cb735405bb53ccb18b4c20b982025-06-28T05:28:57ZengElsevierComprehensive Psychiatry0010-440X2025-10-01142152618Patients with borderline personality disorder show initially reduced psychophysiological relaxation levels but intact relaxation responseRaphaela J. Gaertner0Elea S.C. Klink1Annika B.E. Benz2Bernadette F. Denk3Maria Meier4Stella Wienhold5Nina Volkmer6Katharina E. Kossmann7Jens C. Pruessner8Department of Psychology, Division of Neuropsychology, University of Konstanz, Constance, Germany; Corresponding author at: Department of Psychology, Neuropsychology, University of Konstanz, Fach 905, Universitaetsstrasse 10, 78464 Konstanz, Germany.Department of Psychology, Division of Neuropsychology, University of Konstanz, Constance, GermanyDepartment of Psychology, Division of Neuropsychology, University of Konstanz, Constance, GermanyDepartment of Psychology, Division of Neuropsychology, University of Konstanz, Constance, Germany; Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Constance, GermanyDepartment of Psychology, Division of Neuropsychology, University of Konstanz, Constance, Germany; University Psychiatric Clinics (UPK), Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Research Department (UPKKJ), University of Basel, Basel, SwitzerlandDepartment of Psychology, Division of Neuropsychology, University of Konstanz, Constance, Germany; Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Constance, GermanyDepartment of Psychology, Division of Neuropsychology, University of Konstanz, Constance, Germany; Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Constance, GermanyDepartment of Psychology, Division of Neuropsychology, University of Konstanz, Constance, GermanyDepartment of Psychology, Division of Neuropsychology, University of Konstanz, Constance, Germany; Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Constance, GermanyIntroduction: Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is associated with psychological as well as physiological dysregulation in patients, including reduced parasympathetic activity at baseline and difficulties returning to baseline after a stressor. Whether this impacts the relaxation response independent of a stressor has so far not been investigated. Methods: In a within-subject design, we compared two relaxation interventions, a virtual reality nature video, and a paced breathing intervention. We assessed a female-only sample, with 20 BPD patients (meanage = 23.75 ± 4.39) during their inpatient treatment and 22 matched healthy controls (HC; meanage = 22.68 ± 2.68). Psychological relaxation was assessed with the Relaxation State Questionnaire (RSQ) and physiological relaxation with vagally mediated heart rate variability (HRV). Results: We employed multilevel models to test whether BPD significantly influenced the psychophysiological relaxation response. For psychological relaxation, we found an increase in RSQ scores in both groups in response to both interventions. The HC showed overall higher RSQ scores. For physiological relaxation, we found overall higher HRV values in the HC group but no differences in the relaxation response. Conclusion: BPD patients exhibit lower psychophysiological relaxation levels at baseline and throughout the experiment, while there was no significant difference in response to relaxation interventions when compared to HC. Future studies should focus on interventions targeting baseline psychophysiological relaxation in BPD patients.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010440X2500046XBorderline personality disorderRelaxationHeart rate variabilityPaced breathingVirtual nature |
| spellingShingle | Raphaela J. Gaertner Elea S.C. Klink Annika B.E. Benz Bernadette F. Denk Maria Meier Stella Wienhold Nina Volkmer Katharina E. Kossmann Jens C. Pruessner Patients with borderline personality disorder show initially reduced psychophysiological relaxation levels but intact relaxation response Comprehensive Psychiatry Borderline personality disorder Relaxation Heart rate variability Paced breathing Virtual nature |
| title | Patients with borderline personality disorder show initially reduced psychophysiological relaxation levels but intact relaxation response |
| title_full | Patients with borderline personality disorder show initially reduced psychophysiological relaxation levels but intact relaxation response |
| title_fullStr | Patients with borderline personality disorder show initially reduced psychophysiological relaxation levels but intact relaxation response |
| title_full_unstemmed | Patients with borderline personality disorder show initially reduced psychophysiological relaxation levels but intact relaxation response |
| title_short | Patients with borderline personality disorder show initially reduced psychophysiological relaxation levels but intact relaxation response |
| title_sort | patients with borderline personality disorder show initially reduced psychophysiological relaxation levels but intact relaxation response |
| topic | Borderline personality disorder Relaxation Heart rate variability Paced breathing Virtual nature |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010440X2500046X |
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