Voices in Borderline Personality Disorder Explored (ViBE)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Voices in Borderline Personality Disorder Explored (ViBE): Identifying neural, cognitive, and phenomenological markers of auditory verbal hallucinations in Borderline Personality Disorder
IRAS ID
234904
Contact name
Hugo Critchley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 31 days
Research summary
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is severe a psychiatric condition that affects 1–3% of the general population. Previous research has suggests that between 50 and 90% of patients with BPD may hear voices that other people do not hear (known scientifically as auditory verbal hallucinations). However, voice hearing does not currently appear in the diagnostic criteria for BPD, and so these experiences may go unrecognised and untreated by clinicians.
Some clinicians and researchers hold the opinion that the voice hearing experiences of people with BPD are fundamentally different – and somehow less clinically relevant – than the voices reported by patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. However, recent psychological research has suggested that the voice hearing experiences of people with BPD and schizophrenia may be more similar than different, with both causing clinically significant levels of distress, and potentially responding to similar treatment approaches.
The current research aims to settle these uncertainties, using a combination of neuroimaging methods and psychological approaches to investigate the neural and cognitive basis of voice hearing in BPD. Specifically, we aim to visualise brain activity in moments when people with BPD are hearing voices, to see whether this activity is similar to that shown in previous research in voice hearers with schizophrenia. The project also seeks to understand more about what these experiences are like for people with BPD, and the psychological mechanisms which may underlie voice hearing in this population.
50 voice hearers with a diagnosis of BPD will be recruited. Participants will complete a series of; i) semi-structured interviews; ii) self-report measures; iii) behavioural tasks; and iv) neuroimaging procedures. This pilot work will pave the way for the development and translation of interventions to address a substantial unmet need of this long-neglected population.
REC name
South Central - Berkshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/SC/0662
Date of REC Opinion
18 Dec 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion