Affektive Dysregulation bei Patienten mit Borderline Persönlichkeitsstörung : psychophysiologische Veränderungen bei der Imagination emotionaler Episoden Borderline Persönlichkeitsstörung Physiologische Psychologie Imagination Posttraumatische Belastungsstörung Trauma affektive Dysregulation Psychophysiologie Schreckreaktionen Borderline Personality Disorder emotional reactivity script driven imagery posttraumatic stress disorder startle responses Aims: The aim of the present thesis was to investigate affective dysregulation in patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) using a psychophysiological paradigm. A general emotional vulnerability with intense easily triggered affective reactions combined with an inability to regulate such emotions is considered to be a core symptom in BPD. However evidence from psychophysiological studies for this model is not very consistent. Given the high comorbidity of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in BPD patients current comorbid PTSD might also modulate emotional reactivity. Thus the current study investigated whether BPD patients compared to healthy control subjects show stronger reactions to emotional evocative cues in general or specifically to disorder related emotional stimuli. Comorbid PTSD as well as the disposition to dissociation as a common feature in BPD were considered as factors modulating emotional reactivity. Methods: Using a script driven imagery paradigm the emotional reactivity in 40 non medicated BPD patients (37 women) and 32 healthy control subjects (27 women) was investigated. Besides standard unpleasant neutral and pleasant scripts idiographic aversive scripts based on personal transcription of an aversive life event were presented. Due to the high degree of traumatization idiographic aversive scripts of BPD patients mostly contained trauma related scenes. Furthermore the unpleasant category of scripts comprised disorder specific scenes ...