Abstract
BackgroundWe hypothesize that the population with borderline personality shows different autonomic response to methadone compared to individuals with other personalities. This study applies heart rate variability (HRV) measurements and the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) to examine this hypothesis.Methodology/Principal FindingsForty-four male patients with heroin dependence were recruited from a methadone maintenance treatment program. Eight personality patterns were classified according to the TPQ norm used in Taiwan. The borderline pattern (BP, composed of high novelty seeking, high harm avoidance and low reward dependence) and the other personality patterns (OP) were separated into two groups. We compared the HRV profiles between the BP and OP groups. Correlation and regression analysis were performed to clarify relationship between HRV differences and the borderline index (BI, a new concept defined by us, which is calculated as novelty seeking + harm avoidance – reward dependence). The HRV targets investigated included low frequency (LF) power, high frequency (HF) power, total power (TP), normalized LF (LF%), and LF/HF. No baseline HRV parameters showed any inter-group difference. The BP group had a significantly lower ΔHF and a higher ΔLF/HF than the OP group. The personality dimension, reward dependence, showed a negative correlation with ΔLF/HF and ΔLF%. BI was negatively correlated with ΔHF and positively correlated with ΔLF/HF and ΔLF%.Conclusions/SignificanceBorderline personality individuals show increased sympathetic activity and decreased parasympathetic activity compared to other personalities after taking methadone. The results support the hypothesis that there is an interaction between borderline personality and autonomic modulation.
Highlights
Heroin dependence is a complex psychiatric disorder that causes worldwide social and economic problems [1]
The average methadone dose of borderline pattern (BP) and other personality patterns (OP) are 38.50625.47 mg/day and 37.82615.23 mg/day, which are similar to other studies performed in Taiwan [3]
No significant inter-group difference in Subjective Opiate Withdrawal Scale (SOWS) score and methadone dose suggests that the status of tolerance and withdrawal were similar in BP and OP
Summary
Heroin dependence is a complex psychiatric disorder that causes worldwide social and economic problems [1]. It has a high relapsing rate and harm reduction becomes an important treatment option [2]. The BPD population group shows a low retention rate and high illicit substance exposure when undergoing MMT [5,10,11]. These studies have focused on psychological explanations for the poor outcome of MMT and the biological mechanism of substance use behavior among BPD individuals remains a mystery. This study applies heart rate variability (HRV) measurements and the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) to examine this hypothesis
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