ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Autonomous hyporesponsiveness in children appears to be an indicator of a greater future likelihood of antisocial behavior. Since externalizing disorders are suggested to implicate a risk of antisocial behavior in later life, psychophysiological measurements were assessed commonly used in the realm of antisocial behavior. METHOD: Arousal measures and electrodermal responses to orienting and startling stimuli were assessed in 8-13 year old boys diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), conduct disorder (CD), the comorbid condition of ADHD+CD, and in controls. The eyeblink response to startling stimuli was also recorded. RESULTS: Children with CD and ADHD+CD showed decreased electrodermal responses and accelerated habituation in all paradigms compared to children with ADHD alone and controls. CONCLUSION: CD boys with and without ADHD showed a widely analogous response pattern which is highly similar to that found in antisocial adults. Data suggest that it is CD that sharply rises the risk of unfavorable, antisocial development, whether it occurs alone or comorbid with ADHD.
Subject(s)
Antisocial Personality Disorder/physiopathology , Arousal , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/physiopathology , Blinking , Conduct Disorder/physiopathology , Galvanic Skin Response , Antisocial Personality Disorder/psychology , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/psychology , Case-Control Studies , Child , Child Behavior Disorders/physiopathology , Conduct Disorder/psychology , Humans , Male , Neuropsychological Tests , Prognosis , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Several studies have demonstrated that the presence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in childhood increases the risk of antisocial behavior developing in adulthood. However, because previous research did not consider comorbid conduct disorder (CD), the question of whether ADHD by itself or only the association of ADHD with CD implies a risk of adult antisocial behavior developing is still under discussion. METHOD: Because several characteristics of psychophysiological response had been shown to be associated with future increased likelihood of adult antisocial behavior, autonomic arousal as well as electrodermal responses to orienting and aversive stimuli were assessed in 26 boys with ADHD+CD compared with 21 boys with ADHD alone and 21 controls. RESULTS: Boys with a comorbid condition of ADHD+CD showed a decrement of autonomic responses and a more rapid habituation to orienting and aversive startling stimuli compared with age-matched children with ADHD alone. CONCLUSIONS: Boys with ADHD+CD show a psychophysiological response pattern that is very similar to that reported in antisocial personalities. These findings give further support for a high persistence of antisocial behavior from childhood to adulthood, while no evidence was found that ADHD itself is associated with a predisposition to antisocial behavior.
Subject(s)
Antisocial Personality Disorder/physiopathology , Antisocial Personality Disorder/psychology , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/physiopathology , Autonomic Nervous System/physiopathology , Conduct Disorder/physiopathology , Adolescent , Adult , Arousal , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/epidemiology , Case-Control Studies , Child , Comorbidity , Conduct Disorder/epidemiology , Germany/epidemiology , Humans , Male , Multivariate Analysis , Orientation , Reflex, StartleABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Intense and rapidly changing mood states are a major feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD); however, there have only been a few studies investigating affective processing in BPD, and in particular no neurofunctional correlates of abnormal emotional processing have been identified so far. METHODS: Six female BPD patients without additional major psychiatric disorder and six age-matched female control subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure regional cerebral hemodynamic changes following brain activity when viewing 12 standardized emotionally aversive slides compared to 12 neutral slides, which were presented in random order. RESULTS: Our main finding was that BPD subjects but not control subjects were characterized by an elevated blood oxygenation level dependent fMRI signal in the amygdala on both sides. In addition, activation of the medial and inferolateral prefrontal cortex was seen in BPD patients. Both groups showed activation in the temporo-occipital cortex including the fusiform gyrus in BPD subjects but not in control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Enhanced amygdala activation in BPD is suggested to reflect the intense and slowly subsiding emotions commonly observed in response to even low-level stressors. Borderline subjects' perceptual cortex may be modulated through the amygdala leading to increased attention to emotionally relevant environmental stimuli.
