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Identifier

000463802

Title

Relations of consciousness and borderline personality disorder

Alternative Title

Σχέσεις της συνείδησης και οριακής διαταραχής προσωπικότητας

Author

Διαλεκτοπούλου, Χαρίκλεια

Thesis advisor

Τσελεπίδης, Πέτρος Α.Μ.

Reviewer

Δαλέζιος, Ιωάννης
Θεοδώρου, Παναγιώτης

Abstract

Questions about the nature of consciousness and the self, have long puzzled philosophers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and neuroscientists, giving rise to Chalmers' statement that "there is nothing harder to explain than conscious experience". With the human brain's staggering complexity, consisting of billions of neurons and trillions of connections, the study of consciousness and its origin poses a monumental challenge. To address this challenge, the focus of scientific inquiry should shift towards explaining, predicting, and controlling conscious experience rather than seeking to resolve the elusive "hard problem" of consciousness. An approachable way is to examine consciousness in clinical cases of individuals who report alterations in their consciousness. An interesting clinical case is individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) who often manifest feelings of dissociation and depersonalization. Given there is no literature regarding the topic of the thesis, it was considered necessary to begin by describing BPD, then introducing consciousness through the lens of a neurobiological theory, and finally, examining their relations within a theoretical framework. To effectively do so, the thesis is organized in the following way. Chapter 1 provides a comprehensive clinical and neurobiological overview of BPD. It sheds light on the complexity of diagnosing and treating mental disorders in general and the difficulties that evoke personality disorders with high comorbidity and heterogeneity such as BPD. Chapter 2 is a critical review of Edelman’s “Bright Air and Brilliant Fire: On the Matter of Mind” focusing on his Theory of Neuronal Group Selection (TNGS), also known as Neural Darwinism (ND) that have its roots in evolutionary theory and immunology. This chapter investigates how consciousness is explained by Edelman. Edelman was selected on the basis that he was probably the first to propose a neurobiological theory of consciousness. Chapter 3 deals with the relations between BPD phenotype and consciousness as described in TNGS reaching up to some critical points of the entire thesis, the limitations of studying the relations of consciousness within psychopathology, and some questions for future research.

Language

English

Subject

Αυτοσυνειδησία

Διαπροσωπική αστάθεια

Θεωρία επιλογής νευρωνικών δικτύων

Νευρωνικός Δαρβινισμός

Συναισθηνατική συμπεριφορική απορρύθμιση

Issue date

2024-04-17

Collection

School/Department--School of Medicine--Department of Medicine--Post-graduate theses