Impulsivity and executive function in borderline personality disorder (original) (raw)

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is one of the most controversial mental disease, because of the difficulties in its evaluation, diagnosis and treatment, as well as its prevalence in the general1 (5.9%) and clinical2 (10% -25%) population. Research in this field did not get to define a clear etiopathogeny, although scientific community tends to agree that both organic and environmental factors might be involved3,4. It has been demonstrated that people with BPD reveal difficulties in certain cognitive activities, associated to a deficit in an organic level5. Actual studies reveal an association between the dysfunction of the frontal lobe and the BPD, showing lower levels in attention, cognitive flexibility, learning, memory, processing speed and visual-spatial abilities6. In fact, it has been suggested that specific neurological alterations could be present in specific brain regions among persons with BPD7, which points towards the possibility that certain functions located in t...