A Comparison of Problem Solving, Working Memory, and Selective Attention Executive Functions in Patients with Bipolar II Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, and Non-clinical Samples

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Counseling, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ardakan University, Ardakan, Iran

2 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ardakan University, Ardakan, Iran

3 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Persian Gulf University, Boushehr, Iran

4 Department of Psychiatry, Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: The distinction between Bipolar II Disorder (BD-II) and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) due to symptom overlap has always been a challenging issue among psychiatrists. In the present study, problem-solving functions, working memory and selective attention were compared in BD-II patients, BPD and non-clinical samples to distinguish the two disorders.
Method: For this purpose, 30 BD-II patients, 30 BPD and 30 non-clinical sample were selected by convenience sampling method. They were evaluated using Executive Function (EFs) tests. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and Tukey's post hoc test.
Results: Except for selective attention, which was not significantly different in BD-II patients compared to the non-clinical group (P>0/05); BD-II patients and BPD in all EFs had significantly lower performance than the non-clinical group (P<0/01, P<0/05). Problem solving ability was significantly lower in BD-II patients than in BPD patients (P<0/05). There was no significant difference between the two patient groups in working memory and selective attention (P>0/05).
Conclusion: These findings, provides evidence of differences in some of the EFs in BD-II patients and BPD; which may be related to different impulsivity in these two disorders. Therefore, conducting research in other dimensions of EFs is recommended to distinguish between these two disorders.

Keywords

References

  1. Wang B, Wu Y, Taylor N, Lyons T, Liakata M, Nevado-Holgado AJ, et al. Learning to detect bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder with language and speech in non-clinical interviews. arXiv preprint arXiv:200803408. 2020. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2008.03408
  2. Michopoulos I, Tournikioti K, Paraschakis A, Karavia A, Gournellis R, Smyrnis N, et al. Similar or Different Neuropsychological Profiles? Only Set Shifting Differentiates Women With Bipolar vs. Borderline Personality Disorder. Frontiers in psychiatry. 2021;12. https://dx.doi.org/10.3389%2Ffpsyt.2021.690808
  3. Masso Rodriguez A, Hogg B, Gardoki-Souto I, Valiente-Gómez A, Trabsa A, Mosquera D, et al. Clinical Features, Neuropsychology and Neuroimaging in Bipolar and Borderline Personality Disorder: A Systematic Review of Cross-Diagnostic Studies. Frontiers in psychiatry. 2021;12:895. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.681876
  4. Vöhringer P, Barroilhet S, Alvear K, Medina S, Espinosa C, Alexandrovich K, et al. The International Mood Network (IMN) Nosology Project: differentiating borderline personality from bipolar illness. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. 2016;134(6):504-10. https://doi.org/10.1111/acps.12643
  5. Paris J. Differential diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Psychiatric Clinics. 2018;41(4):575-82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psc.2018.07.001
  6. Paris J, Gunderson J, Weinberg I. The interface between borderline personality disorder and bipolar spectrum disorders. Comprehensive psychiatry. 2007;48(2):145-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2006.10.001
  7. Afshari B, Shiri N, Ghoreishi FS, Valianpour M. Examination and comparison of cognitive and executive functions in clinically stable schizophrenia disorder, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. Depression research and treatment. 2020;14(1):1-9. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/2543541
  8. Dickinson T, Becerra R, Coombes J. Executive functioning deficits among adults with bipolar disorder (types I and II): a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of affective disorders. 2017;218:407-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.04.010
  9. Vai B, Cazzetta S, Scalisi R, Donati A, Bechi M, Poletti S, et al. Neuropsychological deficits correlate with symptoms severity and cortical thickness in Borderline Personality Disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2021;278:181-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.09.060
  10. Palazzo MC, Arici C, Cremaschi L, Cristoffanini M, Dobrea C, Dell’Osso B, et al. Cognitive performance in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder vs healthy controls: a neuropsychological investigation. Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health: CP & EMH. 2017;13:71. https://dx.doi.org/10.2174%2F1745017901713010071
  11. Rezazadeh M, Bagheri F, Borhani A. Comparison of selective attention in two groups of people with and without borderline personality disorder. Studies and research behavioral sciences. 2018;1(1):10-21. https://www.jobssar.ir/fa/showart-eb698dc51253c8c9e2c583a6fa557fb8
  12. Eftekhar M, Shabani A. Borderline personality disorder is not a subtype of bipolar disorder. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology. 2009;15(2):147-58. http://ijpcp.iums.ac.ir/article-1-697-en.html
  13. Ceceli AO, Bradberry CW, Goldstein RZ. The neurobiology of drug addiction: cross-species insights into the dysfunction and recovery of the prefrontal cortex. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2022;47(1):276-91. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-021-01153-9
  14. Sherif HS, Abulmakarim F, Kishk NA. Executive Functions in an Egyptian Sample of Adults with Generalized Epilepsy. American Journal of Applied Psychology. 2021;10(1):10-5. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20211001.12
  15. Shallice T. Biological Sciences: Sspecific Impairments of Planning. Child Neuropsychol. 1996;982(298):1089. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1982.0082
  16. Khodadadi M, Amani H, Mashhadi A. London Tower Software. Tehran: Sina Cognitive Behavioral Science; 2014.
  17. Soleymani E. Performance comparison of students with and without math learning disorder in tower of London and continuous operation scale. Journal of Learning Disabilities. 2015;4(3):56-73. http://jld.uma.ac.ir/?_action=articleInfo&article=278&lang=en
  18. Kirchner WK. Age differences in short-term retention of rapidly changing information. Journal of experimental psychology. 1958;55(4):352. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0043688
  19. Khodadadi M, Nazarboland N, Amani H. Task Software to Measure the Performance of Executive Actions. Tehran: Sina Cognitive Behavioral Sciences; 2014.
  20. Khorasani AH, Agilar Vafaee ME, Nejati V, HR. H. Near and Far Transfers in the Training of Working Memory Capacity through Simple Span Tasks. Journal of Research in Behavioural Sciences. 2017;15(2):159-67. http://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.17352029.1396.15.2.4.5
  21. Najarzadegan M, Nejati V, Amiri N, Sharifian M. Effect of cognitive rehabilitation on executive function (working memory and attention) in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The Scientific Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine. 2015;4(2):97-108. https://doi.org/10.22037/jrm.2015.1100031
  22. Stroop JR. Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of experimental psychology. 1935;18(6):643. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054651
  23. Khodadadi M, Mashhadi A, Amani H. Simple Strop Software. Tehran: Sina Cognitive Behavioral Sciences; 2014.
  24. Zare H, Chorami F, Sharifi A. Effectiveness of Computerized Cognitive Rehabilitation on Working Memory and Cognitive Flexibility among Children with Learning Disorder (LD). Biquarterly Journal of Cognitive Strategies in Learning. 2020;8(15):1-18. http://dx.doi.org/10.18502/ijps.v14i2.990
  25. Akbari V, Rahmatinejad P, Mohammadi SD. Comparing neurocognitive profile of patients with borderline personality and bipolar–II disorders. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry. 2019;14(2):113. https://doi.org/10.18502/ijps.v14i2.990
  26. Gvirts H, Braw Y, Harari H, Lozin M, Bloch Y, Fefer K, et al. Executive dysfunction in bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder. European Psychiatry. 2015;30(8):959-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2014.12.009
  27. Coulston CM, Tanious M, Mulder RT, Porter RJ, Malhi GS. Bordering on bipolar: the overlap between borderline personality and bipolarity. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 2012;46(6):506-21. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0004867412445528
  28. Mousavizadegan S, Maroufi M. Comparison of selective attention in different phases of bipolar I disorder and general population. Advances in Cognitive Science. 2018;20(1):90-99. http://icssjournal.ir/article-1-746-en.html
  29. Mirzaee S, Shahgholian M, Abdollahi M-H, Akhavan-Arjmand S. Relationship between Impulsivity and Meta-Cognition with Cognitive Failures. International Journal of Behavioral Sciences. 2021;15(1):61-5. https://dx.doi.org/10.30491/ijbs.2021.231288.1276
  30. Lichtenberger EO, Kaufman AS. Essentials of WAIS-IV assessment: John Wiley & Sons; 2012.
  31. Feliu-Soler A, Soler J, Elices M, Pascual JC, Pérez J, Martín-Blanco A, et al. Differences in attention and impulsivity between borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder. Psychiatry research. 2013;210(3):1307-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2013.09.011

 

 

International Journal of Behavioral Sciences
Volume 16, Issue 2
August 2022
Pages 118-124

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics