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NCT Number: NCT07197502

Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder With rTMS

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.

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Key information

Conditions

Borderline Personality Disorder BPD - Borderline Personality Disorder Borderline Personality Mental Disorders Personality Disorders

Age range

18 year–65 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, United States

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About this study

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.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

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

Treatment and study plan

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

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.

Primary outcomes

  1. Borderline Symptom List 23 (BSL-23)

    Time frame: Baseline (Day 1) and Post treatment (Day 17)

    Borderline Symptom List 23 (BSL-23)

  2. Clinical Global Impression for Borderline Personality Disorder (CGI-BPD)

    Time frame: Baseline (Day 1) and Post treatment (Day 17)

    Clinical Global Impression for Borderline Personality Disorder (CGI-BPD)

  3. Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS)

    Time frame: Baseline (Day 1) and Post treatment (Day 17)

    Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS)

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Elizabeth Pinkerton

CONTACT

[email protected]

310-794-0331

Research Coordinator

CONTACT

[email protected]

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of California, Los Angeles

Other

Registry information

Official study title

CLINICAL TRIAL: Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder by Targeting Ventrolateral Prefrontal-amygdala Circuit With Network-based Neuronavigated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Acronym: ClinicalBPD

Important dates

Study start
2025
Primary completion
2027
Study completion
2027
First posted
Sep 29, 2025
Registry last updated
Oct 29, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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