Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science (JCBS)
Special Issue on Contextual Behavioral Science and the Psychedelic Renaissance
Volume 15, January 2020, Pages 1-11
Authors
Richard E. Zeifman, Anne C. Wagner
Abstract
Borderline 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 conducting research on, and the potential clinical utility surrounding, incorporating psychedelics within interventions for BPD.