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Objectives: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe mental disorder characterized by difficulty in emotion regulation and interpersonal relationships. Many researchers have focused on high baseline emotional intensity and emotional reactivity, but very little research has examined the difficulty of recovery to baseline in patients with BPD. This study focused on emotional recovery after Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) intervention on psychophysiological indexes in individuals with BPD features. Methods: In all, 179 participants were recruited and invited to complete the questionnaire. Based on the cutoff scores of the Borderline Features Scale of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI-BOR), 32 participants with BPD features and 32 healthy controls (HC) were invited to participate in the psychophysiological studies. In the second phase, 16 of the 32 participants with BPD features were included in the MBSR intervention, and the other 16 were included in the uninvolved group. Results: There were significant differences between the BPD-features and HC groups on all the self-report scales. The individuals with BPD features experienced more difficulty in recovering from anger, sadness, and fear emotions, according to psychophysiological indicators of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). MBSR intervention was effective in improving emotion regulation, the traits of mindfulness, depression, and withdrawal of the PNS in the BPD-features group. During the recovery periods, the activities of the respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and high frequency of heart rate variability (HRV-HF) increased in the participants with BPD features after MBSR intervention. Conclusions: The present results are in line with the polyvagal theory. MBSR intervention may provide paths for gaining control over top-down influences on the PNS via skills of observation and acceptance to avoid the loop of rumination and associated physiological arousal, which is thought to prevent efficient emotional recovery from stressful emotional experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maternal depression may affect children through various mechanisms, including the stressful contexts of the children's lives and maternal maladaptive affection, behaviors, and cognition, which affect the psychopathological development of children and contribute to disorders. The aims of the present study were to explore how family functioning mediates the relationship between maternal depression and the positive and negative emotions of adolescents. A total of 430 paired questionnaires were collected from junior high school students and their mothers. The mothers completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD), and the adolescents completed the CESD, Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire, and Family Function Scale. The results revealed significant correlations among maternal depression, family functioning, and positive and negative emotions in the adolescents. The family functioning subscales of conflict and emotional expression partially mediated the relationship between maternal depression and the positive and negative emotions of the adolescents. Furthermore, the family functioning subscales of cohesion, problem solving, and responsibility fully mediated the relationship between maternal depression and positive moods in the adolescents. Analysis of the results for maternal depression, family functioning, and the emotional adjustment of the adolescents indicated that family functioning is the mediator between maternal depression and the positive and negative emotions of the adolescents. The current results suggest that adequate family functioning can prevent depression being transmitted from mothers to their adolescent children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deficits in understanding others' minds, evident in most individuals with autism spectrum disorders, have been suggested as a core deficit of autism. However, nonverbal ability has gone untested because most theory of mind measurement has involved verbal materials such as reading tasks. This raises the possibility that children with high function autism spectrum disorder would distinguish verbal and nonverbal component deficits. Thirty-two participants diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder by a trained psychiatrist and 34 matched controls were recruited for this study. The assessment included verbal and non-verbal materials tasks. The result showed that nonverbal ability of theory of mind is impaired in the individuals with autism spectrum disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]