New Diagnostic Tools to Predict Symptom Improvements in Personality Disorders
Tuesday, September 10, 2024, 2:00 pm EDT
Although several types of psychological interventions are available to treat people with personality disorders, we have a poor understanding of which people are best suited to which treatments. Part of this difficulty stems from well-documented problems in symptom measurement, which has historically led to the collection of unreliable diagnostic data with poor predictive utility. Recently, new diagnostic tools have been created that measure personality functioning in a new way: rather than placing individuals into different diagnostic categories (e.g., "narcissistic personality disorder" or "borderline personality disorder"), new diagnostic tools provide more precise information about the severity of symptoms in domains that tend to be shared across personality disorder categories, such as difficulties developing a strong sense of self and feeling safe in close relationships. This presentation offers an overview of research that combines new diagnostic tools with functional MRI to identify clinical characteristics and brain-based markers that may be associated with symptom improvements, including in suicidal thinking, during a brief, structured hospital intervention. Among all people who experience suicidal thoughts, this approach could pinpoint those who will improve during a brief intervention and those who may require different treatments to recover.
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Research Associate, Gunderson Personality Disorders Institute Research Program
McLean Hospital
Instructor in Psychology, Department of Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School
2022 Young Investigator Grant
Dr. Traynor is a clinician-scientist at McLean Hospital who specializes in researching and treating mental health disorders associated with high suicide risk, including personality disorders and trauma. Her research aims to develop new treatments for people with personality disorders, and to identify cognitive and fMRI biomarkers that are predictive treatment response and suicide risk. Dr. Traynor is the recipient of a NARSAD Young Investigator Award for her project entitled“Dimensional personality functioning as a transdiagnostic predictor of suicide-related outcomes following partial hospitalization.”
Jeffrey Borenstein, M.D., serves as the President & CEO of the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, the largest private funder of mental health research grants. Dr. Borenstein developed the Emmy-nominated public television program “Healthy Minds,” and serves as host and executive producer of the series. The program, broadcast nationwide, is available online, and focuses on topics in psychiatry in order to educate the public, reduce stigma and offer a message of hope. Dr. Borenstein served as Editor-in-Chief of Psychiatric News, the newspaper of the American Psychiatric Association from 2012 - 2023.
Dr. Borenstein is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and serves as the Chair of the Section of Psychiatry at the Academy. He also has served as the President of the New York State Psychiatric Association. Dr. Borenstein earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard and his medical degree at New York University.
