Abstract
The regulation of brain activation, as assessed with the EEG, is a state modulated trait. A decline to lowered EEG-vigilance states has been found to be associated with emotional instability in older studies, but has not been systematically studied in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Twenty unmedicated BPD patients were compared to 20 unmedicated patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as well as 20 healthy controls concerning their EEG-vigilance regulation over a 5-min period assessed with an algorithm classifying every artefact-free 2-s EEG segment into the EEG-vigilance state (A1–A3, B (=non-A)). If the alpha power was posterior more than 55% of the whole alpha power (anterior + posterior) in the artefact-free EEG-segments, that segment was marked as A1, if it was anterior more than 55% of the whole alpha power, as A3. For A2 the following rule was defined: Posterior or anterior alpha between 50 and 55% of the whole alpha power. BPD patients showed significantly lower rates of EEG-vigilance state A compared to OCD patients, indicating a lowered EEG-vigilance. All three groups showed a decrease in the rate of EEG-vigilance state A over the 5 min recording period in line with a lowering of vigilance. The study provides evidence for a less stable regulation of EEG-vigilance in BPD compared to OCD patients and is in line with concepts postulating that the behavioural pattern with sensation seeking and impulsivity in BPD has a compensatory and autoregulatory function to stabilize activation of the CNS.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bente D (1964) Vigilanz, dissoziative Vigilanzverschiebung und Insuffizienz des Vigilitätstonus. In: Kranz H, Heinrich K (eds) Begleitwirkungen und Mißerfolge der psychiatrischen Pharmakotherapie. Thieme, Stuttgart, pp 13–28
Blanc C, Lairy GC (1960) Modifications de l’E.E.G. au cours des syndromes dépressifs. Rev Neurol 102:371–374
Bonnet H, Bonnet H (1960) L’endormissement spontané dans les états d’excitation maniaque – étude électronique. Encéphale 49:305–318
Boutros NN, Torello M, McGlashan TH (2003) Electrophysiological aberrations in borderline personality disorder: state of the evidence. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 15:145–154
De Gennaro L, Ferrara M, Bertini M (2001) The boundary between wakefulness and sleep: quantitative electroencephalographic changes during the sleep onset period. Neuroscience 107:1–11
DeGroot CM, Torello MW, Boutros NN, Allen R (1997) Auditory event-related potentials and statistical probability mapping in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Clin Electroencephalogr 28:148–154
Dilling H, Mombour W, Schmidt MH (1993) Internationale Klassifikation psychischer Störungen ICD-10, Kapitel V. Huber, Bern
di Michele F, Prichep L, John ER, Chabot RJ (2005) The neurophysiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Int J Psychophysiol 58:81–93
Enoch MA, White KV, Harris CR, Robin RW, Ross J, Rohrbaugh JW, Goldman D (1999) Association of low-voltage alpha EEG with a subtype of alcohol use disorders. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 23:1312–1319
First MB, Spitzer RL, Gibbon M, Williams JBW (1997) Structured clinical interview for DSM-IV Axis I and II disorders. American Psychiatric Press, Washington DC
Gohle D, Juckel G, Mavrogiorgou P, Pogarell O, Mulert C, Rujescu D, Giegling I, Zaudig M, Hegerl U (2007) Electrophysiological evidence for cortical abnormalities in obsessive-compulsive disorder—A replication study using auditory event-related P300 subcomponents. J Psychiatric Res: doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2007.01.003
Goodman WK, Price LH, Rasmussen SA, Mazure C, Fleischmann RL, Hill CL, Heninger GR, Charney DS (1989a) The yale-brown-obsessive-compulsive-scale. I. Development, use and reliability. Arch Gen Psychiatry 46:1006–1011
Goodman WK, Price LH, Rasmussen SA, Mazure C, Delgado P, Heninger GR, Charney DS (1989b) The yale-brown-obsessive-compulsive-scale. II. Validity. Arch Gen Psychiatry 46:1012–1016
Guy W (1976) ECDEU assessment manual for psychopharmacology. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Washington DC
Hamilton M (1960) A rating scale for depression. JNNP 23:56–62
Hegerl U, Frodl-Bauch T (1997) Dipole source analysis of P300 component of the auditory evoked potential: a methodological advance? Psychiatry Res 74:109–118
Herpertz SC, Kunert HJ, Schwenger UB, Sass H (1999) Affective responsiveness in borderline personality disorder: A psychophysiological approach. Am J Psychiatry 156:1550–1556
Hohagen F, Lis S, Krieger S, Winkelmann G, Riemann D, Fritsch-Montero R, Rey E, Aldenhoff J, Berger M (1994) Sleep EEG of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 243:273–278
Hong SB, Shin YW, Kim SH, Yoo SY, Lee JM, Kim IY, Kim SI, Kwon JS (2007) Hippocampal shape deformity analysis in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 257:185–190
Huang-Pollock CL, Nigg JT, Halperin JM (2006) Single dissociation findings of ADHD deficits in vigilance, but not anterior or posterior attention systems. Neuropsychology 20:420–429
Insel TR, Gillin JC, Moore A, Mendelson WB, Loewenstein RJ, Murphy DL (1982) The sleep of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry 39:1372–1377
Kwon JS, Shin YW, Kim CW, Kim YI, Youn T, Han MH, Chang KH, Kim JJ (2003) Similarity and disparity of obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia in MR volumetric abnormalities of the hippocampus-amygdala complex. JNNP 74:962–964
Loomis AL, Harvey EN, Hobart GA (1938) Distribution of disturbance-patterns in the human electroencephalogram, with special reference to sleep. J Neurophysiol 1:413–430
Mavrogiorgou P, Juckel G, Frodl T, Gallinat J, Hauke W, Zaudig M, Dammann G, Möller H-J, Hegerl U (2002) P300 subcomponents in obsessive-compulsive disorder. J Psychiatr Res 36:399–406
Nishino S (2007) The hypothalamic peptidergic system, hypocretin/orexin and vigilance control. Neuropeptides. doi:10.1016/j.npep.2007.01.003
Oken BS, Salinsky MC, Elsas SM (2006) Vigilance, alertness, or sustained attention: physiological basis and measurement. Clin Neurophysiol 117:1885–1901
Philipsen A, Feige B, Al-Shajlawi A, Schmahl C, Bohus M, Richter H, Voderholzer U, Lieb K, Riemann D (2005) Increased delta power and discrepancies in objective and subjective sleep measurements in borderline personality disorder. J Psychiatr Res 39:489–498
Rauch SL, Savage CR, Alpert NM, Dougherty D, Kendrick A, Curran T, Brown HD, Manzo P, Fischman AJ, Jenike MA (1997) Probing striatal function in obsessive-compulsive disorder: a PET study of implicit sequence learning. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 9:568–573
Rechtschaffen A, Kales A (1968) A manual of standardized terminology, techniques and scoring system for sleep states of human subjects. Public Health Service, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC
Rèmond A, Lesévre N (1957) Remarques sur l‘activité cérébrale des sujets normaux. La typologie électroencéphalographique dans ses rapports avec certains caractèrs psychologiques. In: Fischgold H, Gastaut H (eds) Conditionnement et Réactivité en Électroencéphalographie. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 235–255
Rice JP, Reich T, Bucholz KK, Neuman RJ, Fishman R, Rochberg N, Hesselbrock VM, Nurnberger JI, Schuckit MA, Begleiter H (1995) Comparison of direct interview and family history diagnoses of alcohol dependence. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 19:1018–1023
Robinson D, Walsleben J, Pollack S, Lerner G (1998) Nocturnal polysomnography in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychiatry Res 80:257–263
Roth B (1961) The clinical and theoretical importance of EEG rhythms corresponding to states of lowered vigilance. EEG Clin Neurophysiol 13:395–399
Small JG, Milstein V, Malloy FW, Medlock CE, Klapper MH (1999) Clinical and quantitative EEG studies of mania. J Affect Disord 53:217–224
Small JG, Milstein V, Medlock CE (1997) Clinical EEG findings in mania. Clin Electroencephalogr 28:229–235
Strijkstra AM, Beersma DG, Drayer B, Halbesma N, Daan S (2003) Subjective sleepiness correlates negatively with global alpha (8–12 Hz) and positively with central frontal theta (4–8 Hz) frequencies in the human resting awake electroencephalogram. Neurosci Lett 340:17–20
Towey J, Bruder G, Tenke C, Leite P, DeCaria C, Friedman D, Hollander E (1993) Event-related potential and clinical correlates of neurodysfunction in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychiatr Res 49:167–181
Tsuno N, Shigeta M, Hyoki K, Kinoshita T, Ushijima S, Faber PL, Lehmann D (2002) Spatial organization of EEG activity from alertness to sleep state 2 in old and younger subjects. J Sleep Res 11:43–51
Ulrich G (1994) Psychiatrische Elektroenzephalographie. Fischer, Jena Stuttgart, New York
Ulrich G (2001) QUEIDA—quantitative electroencephalographic ipsative difference assessment. BoD GmbH, Norderstedt
Ulrich G, Frick K (1986) A new quantitative approach to the assessment of states of vigilance as defined by spatiotemporal EEG patterning. Percept Mot Skills 62:567–576
Ulrich G, Fürstenberg U (1999) Quantitative assessment of dynamic electroencephalogram (EEG) organization as a tool for subtyping depressive syndromes. Eur Psychiatry 14:217–229
van der Kolk BA (1997) The psychobiology of posttraumatic stress disorder. J Clin Psychiatry 58(suppl 9):16–24
Voderholzer U, Riemann D, Huwig-Poppe C, Kuelz AK, Kordon A, Bruestle K, Berger M, Hohagen F (2007) Sleep in obsessive-compulsive disorder: polysomnographic studies under baseline conditions and after experimentally induced serotonin deficiency. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 257:173–182
Vogel F (1970) The genetic basis of the normal human electroencephalogram (EEG). Humangenetik 10:91–114
Winkel CM, Hamoen AM (1959) Sleep-patterns in routine E.E.G. records (a preliminary investigation into their occurrence). Folia Psychiatr Neurol Neurochir Neerl 62:28–33
Wittchen HU, Zaudig M, Fydrich T (1997) Strukturiertes Klinisches Interview für DSM-IV, Achse I und II. Hogrefe, Göttingen
Zaudig M, Hauke W, Hegerl U (eds) (2002) Die Zwangsstörung—Diagnostik und Therapie. Schattauer, Stuttgart
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hegerl, U., Stein, M., Mulert, C. et al. EEG-vigilance differences between patients with borderline personality disorder, patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and healthy controls. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosc 258, 137–143 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-007-0765-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-007-0765-8