Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder With rTMS

NCT ID: NCT07197502

Last Updated: 2025-10-29

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

30 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2025-03-01

Study Completion Date

2027-12-31

Brief Summary

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This project studies the effectiveness of brain stimulation on borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms. This study is blinded, randomized and will enroll up to 30 participants.

Participant will be consented for the study remotely via a secure internet platform called Zoom.

Participants will undergo up to 2 MRI scans, 2 brain wave recording sessions and up to 30 brain stimulation treatments, and complete symptom assessments and cognitive behavioral tasks on a computer. Participation requires minimum of 17 in person visits over the course of 2.5 months.

Participants are randomly assigned active or sham brain stimulation. Participants who received sham brain stimulation have the option to receive additional 15 active brain stimulation session.

Detailed Description

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Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious and pervasive psychiatric condition with a prevalence of 1-5% among the general population. Two core symptoms of BPD are dysfunctional emotion regulation and marked impulsivity resulting in severe psychological suffering in terms of depression and anxiety as well as maladaptive impulsive acts, particularly self-harming behaviors including suicide. Recent advances in affective neuroscience of BPD combined with progress in brain imaging and neuromodulation technologies have opened new avenues for the development of innovative, brain-based, and more effective treatments for BPD.

This project aims to test the efficacy of a novel circuit-based treatment for BPD. The investigators will utilize multimodal neuroimaging Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and electroencephalogram (EEG) and BPD-, depression- and anxiety-related clinical scales to objectively measure the impact of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) treatment on overall BPD as well as depressive and anxiety symptom severity. Furthermore, a battery of cognitive tasks will be used to specifically measure the effect of TMS on the neurobehavioral indicators of impulsivity and emotion regulation.

Conditions

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Borderline Personality Disorder Borderline Personality BPD - Borderline Personality Disorder

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

CROSSOVER

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Participants

Study Groups

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Active

Subjects in this group will receive active TMS treatment at vlPFC delivered by a magnet called A/P (active/placebo) coil. The A/P coil supports double-blinding of treatment. The coil has two sides, one of which is shielded so that no energy is imparted to the brain when the shielded side is applied to the subject's head. Small skin electrodes are applied to the scalp under the coil that impart a small microcurrent to the scalp simulating the sensation of active treatment. The operator receives a code from the device instructing them which side of the coil to use for each subject, ensuring complete treatment blinding.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

Intervention Type DEVICE

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain to improve symptoms of depression. Using pulsed magnetic fields, transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy stimulates the part of the brain thought to be involved with mood regulation. These magnetic fields do not directly affect the whole brain; they only reach about 2-3 centimeters into the brain directly beneath the treatment coil.As these magnetic fields move into the brain, they produce very small electrical currents. These electrical currents activate cells within the brain, causing them to rewire, a process called neuroplasticity.

Sham- followed by Active treatment

Patients will be randomized to receive active or sham at vlPFC. Subjects assigned to the sham-controlled condition will be offered the opportunity to cross-over to open - label TMS treatment at the conclusion of the double-blind phase. This phase will serve as an incentive to recruitment because it ensures that all subjects (even those initially receiving sham stimulation) will eventually be eligible to receive active treatment. Rating scale scores will be obtained in the open-label extension just as scheduled in the controlled phase to gather additional information on efficacy of the active intervention.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

Intervention Type DEVICE

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain to improve symptoms of depression. Using pulsed magnetic fields, transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy stimulates the part of the brain thought to be involved with mood regulation. These magnetic fields do not directly affect the whole brain; they only reach about 2-3 centimeters into the brain directly beneath the treatment coil.As these magnetic fields move into the brain, they produce very small electrical currents. These electrical currents activate cells within the brain, causing them to rewire, a process called neuroplasticity.

Interventions

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Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain to improve symptoms of depression. Using pulsed magnetic fields, transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy stimulates the part of the brain thought to be involved with mood regulation. These magnetic fields do not directly affect the whole brain; they only reach about 2-3 centimeters into the brain directly beneath the treatment coil.As these magnetic fields move into the brain, they produce very small electrical currents. These electrical currents activate cells within the brain, causing them to rewire, a process called neuroplasticity.

Intervention Type DEVICE

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Age of 18-65
* DSM-5 Diagnosis of BPD based upon a psychiatric evaluation and ZAN-BPD
* Fluent English speaker
* Signed informed consent
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

65 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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University of California, Los Angeles

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Andrew F. Leuchter

Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

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Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA

Los Angeles, California, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Semel Institute/ UCLA TMS

Los Angeles, California, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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United States

Central Contacts

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Elizabeth Pinkerton

Role: CONTACT

310-794-0331

Research Coordinator

Role: CONTACT

Facility Contacts

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Elizabeth Pinkerton

Role: primary

310-794-0331

Research Coordinator

Role: backup

Elizabeth Pinkerton, BS

Role: primary

310-794-0331

UCLA TMS Research Coordinator

Role: backup

Other Identifiers

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23-001340

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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