Body-related attentional biases in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder resulting from childhood sexual abuse with and without co-occurring borderline personality disorder

M Witthöft; E Borgmann; A White; A Dyer

doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2014.07.010

Body-related attentional biases in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder resulting from childhood sexual abuse with and without co-occurring borderline personality disorder

J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2015 Mar:46:72-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2014.07.010. Epub 2014 Sep 9.

Authors

M Witthöft¹, E Borgmann², A White³, A Dyer⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, 68161 Mannheim, Germany. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, 68161 Mannheim, Germany. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁴ Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, 68161 Mannheim, Germany; Otto-Selz-Institut, University of Mannheim, 68161 Mannheim, Germany. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 25244677
DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2014.07.010

Abstract

Background and objectives: Disturbed body perception is a common characteristic of patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after childhood sexual abuse (CSA). We examined the extent to which biased information processing of body related stimuli was related to CSA.

Methods: Patients with PTSD after CSA (PTSD group; n = 61) were compared to healthy controls (HC group; n = 30). The PTSD group was subdivided into patients with comorbid Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD; PTSD+ group) and patients without BPD (PTSD-group). We used an emotional Stroop task (EST) with body-related words to assess biased information processing.

Results: Only patients in the PTSD+ group but not in the PTSD-group showed a significantly stronger attentional bias to body related words compared to the HC group (p = .009).

Limitations: Recruitment in in-patient setting might have led to a non-representative sample of PTSD patients. The PTSD patients were not characterized regarding anything other than the mentioned mental disorders. Potentially, the body related words may have been associated with offenders' body areas, but not with the patients.

Conclusion: We found that patients with PTSD and comorbid BPD had a stronger attentional bias towards body related stimuli in comparison to other groups. This suggests that the observed attentional bias is a product of CSA combined with the emotion regulation difficulties characteristic of BPD. Future studies should test whether directly targeting body-related abnormalities in information processing can improve existing treatments for patients with CSA and BPD.

Keywords: Body image disturbance; Borderline personality disorder (BPD); Childhood sexual abuse (CSA); Emotional Stroop task (EST); Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

MeSH terms

Adult
Attention*
Bias*
Body Image / psychology*
Borderline Personality Disorder / complications
Borderline Personality Disorder / psychology*
Child
Child Abuse, Sexual / psychology*
Emotions
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Reaction Time
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / complications
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / psychology*
Surveys and Questionnaires
Young Adult