Autonomous changes in patients with borderline personality disorder during the hyperventilation test

Abstract

Introduction. Borderline personality disorder (BPD) affect about 1-2% of the general population and is the most common personality disorder in clinical practice. Key features of this personality disorder are emotional liability and impulsivity that represent the impairment of inhibitory control, ability to inhibit and regulate emotional responses. Heart rate variability (HRV) - the variation in duration between consecutive heartbeats - is widely accepted as a psychophysiological marker of emotional regulatory capacity and inhibitory control. Parasympathetic modulation of heart rate is faster while sympathetic effects are much slower.