Exploring the case for research on incorporating psychedelics within interventions for borderline personality disorder

Publication date: Available online 9 November 2019Source: Journal of Contextual Behavioral ScienceAuthor(s): Richard J. Zeifman, Anne C. WagnerAbstractBorderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a severe psychiatric disorder characterized by behavioral dysregulation, emotion dysregulation, disturbances in self-identity, and social functioning. Despite the existence of evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions for BPD, these interventions have important limitations (e.g., limited treatment efficacy). Furthermore, little evidence exists for the efficaciousness of pharmacological interventions for BPD. Thus, a strong need for improving current interventions for BPD exists. Although research incorporating psychedelics within interventions for a wide range of psychiatric disorders has shown promise, research has not yet explored the utility of incorporating psychedelics within interventions for BPD. Therefore, this paper reviews the impact of psychedelics on treatment targets in interventions for BPD (i.e., behavioral dysregulation, emotion dysregulation, disturbances in self-identity, and social functioning), as well as purported overlapping mechanisms of change between interventions for BPD and psychedelics (i.e., emotion dysregulation, mindfulness, and self-compassion). Finally, safety concerns, clinical recommendations, and proposed next research steps related to the administration of psychedelics to individuals with BPD are discussed. This paper aims to explore the case for...
Source: Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research