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Open research questions in Personality Disorders and Psychopathology

660 gap statements mined from Personality Disorders and Psychopathology papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 5,060 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

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What the literature leaves open

  • The current mental health systems are failing to diagnose and treat BPD in adolescents, leading to severe consequences. There is a lack of early intervention and coordinated care for BPD. The authors argue that the neglect of young people with BPD is a violation of their fundamental rights.

    We are failing the rights of young people with borderline personality disorder · 2026 · DOI

  • The study of childhood predictors of Cluster A traits is challenging due to the complexity of developmental trajectories. Informant bias may inflate perceived relationships due to rater biases rather than true developmental continuity. The evaluation of executive functioning challenges is often general and behavior-focused, lacking differentiation among specific functions.

    Critical appraisal of childhood predictors of cluster a personality disorder traits in adolescence: a seven-wave birth cohort study · 2026 · DOI

  • The study identifies the need to control for participants' current age at assessment in all analyses.

    Shaping personality functioning: type and timing effects of childhood maltreatment on personality functioning · 2026 · DOI

  • Longitudinal data - particularly in adolescents - remain scarce, leaving unresolved whether changes in oxytocin reflect treatment effects, developmental processes, or reciprocal influences with symptom trajectories.

    Longitudinal associations between plasma oxytocin levels and borderline personality disorder symptoms in adolescents · 2026 · DOI

  • While future studies are warranted to isolate BPD-specific alterations, current findings provide novel insights into the neural mechanisms that may underlie social dysfunction in BPD.

    Altered neurophysiological processing of social rewards in borderline personality disorder: Insights from a social media paradigm · 2026 · DOI

  • Borderline personality disorder (BPD) in particular is thought to impact the mother-child relationship, but comparisons with mothers with other mental disorders are scarce.

    Mother–Child Relationship Quality in the Presence of Maternal Mental Disorders: Do Self‐Report and Behavioural Observation Differ? · 2026 · DOI

  • Psychotherapy is the primary treatment for adolescent borderline personality pathology (BPP), yet its mechanisms remain unclear.

    Beyond Self-Reports: Integrating Cortisol Measurement in Psychotherapy Process Research among Adolescents with Borderline Personality Pathology · 2025 · DOI

  • The existing literature on gender differences in BPD is fragmented and data are conflicting.

    Gender differences in outpatients affected by Borderline Personality Disorder · 2025 · DOI

  • Research using latent class analysis and structural equation modeling has produced mixed results, with most studies identifying overlapping symptom clusters of BPD and CPTSD and suggesting that the boundaries between the two conditions are not clear.

    Complex posttraumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder: a truly complex relationship or a diagnostic artefact? · 2025 · DOI

  • An existing body of research demonstrates the efficacy of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills in reducing a range of psychiatric symptomatology in the United States, although the relevance of DBT Skills in low- and middle-income countries in the Global South has been understudied.

    Exploring the relevance of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills for emerging adults in India · 2025 · DOI

  • Future research should explore the broader spectrum of psychotic experiences in BPD and consider integrating PPM-related AVHs into the assessment and treatment of BPD.

    The Subjective Experience of the Punitive Parent Mode in Individuals With Borderline Personality Disorder Following Schema Therapy: A Qualitative Study · 2025 · DOI

  • Future research should examine the effectiveness of Schema Therapy in addressing emotion dysregulation and impulsivity among these patients.

    Schema Mechanisms Underlying Emotion Dysregulation and Impulsivity in Comorbid Attention‐Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder · 2025 · DOI

  • There is limited evidence that dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), mentalization based therapy and schema therapy are more effective than treatment as usual.

    Psychotherapies for the treatment of personality disorders: the state of the art · 2024 · DOI

  • Given that studies with patients with Cluster B PD suggest that longer treatment of DBT and mentalization-based treatment is not more effective than shorter treatment this needs to be studied with other evidence-based therapies as well.

    Psychotherapies for the treatment of personality disorders: the state of the art · 2024 · DOI

  • Despite being theoretically linked, the connections among childhood trauma, self-stigma, and mental health have not been explored in patients with BPD.

    Structural Equation Modeling of Childhood Trauma and Self-Stigma in Adult Inpatients with Borderline Personality Disorder · 2024 · DOI

  • No statistically significant differences were found for treatment completion between the sexual orientation and gender identity groups, although there were patterns indicating possible lower treatment uptake and completion that warrant further investigation.

    Clinical outcomes for sexual and gender minority adolescents in a dialectical behaviour therapy programme · 2024 · DOI

  • Despite its common clinical use, a thorough evaluation of day treatment group schema therapy (GST) is lacking.

    Effectiveness of Day Treatment Group Schema Therapy for Personality Disorders: A Multiple Baseline Single‐Case Study · 2024 · DOI

  • PDs are associated with a substantial yet underrecognized physical health burden.

    Emerging insights into the physical health burden of personality disorders · 2026 · DOI

  • As few data are available on these groups in addictology, the aim of our study was to check that emotional dysregulation and impulsivity are improved as soon as transdiagnostic DBT groups are implemented.

    Emotion regulation and impulsivity evolution during transdiagnostic DBT implementation in addictology – a 3-year naturalistic study · 2026 · DOI

  • An important caveat is that the treatment induced changes were largely limited to the emotion dysregulation aspect of BPD; other aspects (interpersonal and identity disturbances) were largely unchanged by either treatment.

    Unified Protocol vs Mentalization‐Based Therapy for Adolescents With Borderline Personality Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial · 2025 · DOI

  • Pain is a prevalent and potentially underrecognized symptom in personality disorders and persists until treatment termination for a large group of patients.

    Pain prevalence rates and the mediating role of negative affect in adults referred to personality disorder treatment: A cross-sectional study · 2024 · DOI

  • Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is an effective treatment for self-injury and emotion dysregulation in adolescent populations, but few studies have published outcomes of DBT for SGM young people.

    Clinical outcomes for sexual and gender minority adolescents in a dialectical behaviour therapy programme · 2024 · DOI

  • Recall of autobiographical events has been found to be impaired in borderline personality disorder (BPD), but few studies have examined if this impairment has brain functional correlates.

    Brain Functional Correlates of Recall of Life Events in Medication-Naïve Adolescents with Borderline Personality Disorder · 2024 · DOI

  • Future research should employ integrative analytical methods to examine interactions among risk factors - Research should include sex-stratified analyses, contextual factors, and genetically informed frameworks to clarify causal pathways and guide early intervention strategies - Additional cultured methods, such as cross-lagged panel models or network analyses, could better capture reciprocal interactions throughout…

    Critical appraisal of childhood predictors of cluster a personality disorder traits in adolescence: a seven-wave birth cohort study · 2026 · DOI

  • The study was unable to test what happens when cognitive and non-cognitive variables are assessed using self-reports or performance-based measures, - The sample size was limited to 299 university students from Spain, - The study only considered a specific age range, with a mean age of 18.5…

    Cognitive Ability, Personality, and Psychopathology: A Stormy Relationship · 2024 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Personality Disorders and Psychopathology

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Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) There is a lack of early intervention and coordinated care for BPD (“We are failing the rights of young people with borderline personality disorder”, 2026); (2) Longitudinal data - particularly in adolescents - remain scarce, leaving unresolved whether changes in oxytocin reflect treatment effects, developmental processes, or reciprocal influences with symptom trajectories (“Longitudinal associations between plasma oxytocin levels and borderline…”, 2026); (3) While future studies are warranted to isolate BPD-specific alterations, current findings provide novel insights into the neural mechanisms that may underlie social dysfunction in BPD (“Altered neurophysiological processing of social rewards in borderline…”, 2026); (4) Borderline personality disorder (BPD) in particular is thought to impact the mother-child relationship, but comparisons with mothers with other mental disorders are scarce (“Mother–Child Relationship Quality in the Presence of Maternal Mental Disorders:…”, 2026); (5) Psychotherapy is the primary treatment for adolescent borderline personality pathology (BPP), yet its mechanisms remain unclear (“Beyond Self-Reports: Integrating Cortisol Measurement in Psychotherapy Process…”, 2025). 660 gap statements have been mined from Personality Disorders and Psychopathology papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 5,060 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

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