Combining Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation With Emotion Regulation Skills Training in Borderline Personality Disorder
Key facts
- Who runs it
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- Where
- Boston, United StatesSee the site
- Trial code
- Status
- Recruiting
- People taking part
- 12 people, planned
- Started
- 1 Sept 2026
- Expected to end
- 1 Dec 2027
- Type of study
- Interventional
- Treatments tested
- Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
- Emotion Regulation Skills Training
- Record updated
- 26 October 2026
Who can take part
- Age
- 22 years to 65 years
- Sex
- Women and men
- Healthy volunteers
- Cannot take part
The registry criteria, word for word
Show all 17 criteriaShow less
Who can take part
- DSM-5 diagnosis of borderline personality disorder
- Clinical levels of emotion dysregulation as determined by a score ≥ 80 on the DERS
- Male and female sex as assigned at birth
- ages 22-65
- able to provide informed consent and provide verifiable contact information
- stable medication regimen
Who cannot take part
- a clinical course of a neuromodulatory therapy (e.g. TMS, tDCS, ECT) within the past 6 months
- concurrent participation in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) during participation ER-skills training portion of study
- current substance use disorder for the past 6 months (substance use disorder in remission permitted)
- history of psychosis
- dementia or other major neurological disorders
- medical illness or non-psychiatric medical treatment that would likely interfere with study participation
- contraindications for MRI or TMS, including the presence of metallic implants that would interfere with safety (i.e. cardiac pacemaker, metal plates, non-removable body piercings, etc.), history of seizure disorder, history of head trauma
- current active suicidality (suicidal ideation with intent or plan)
- current use of benzodiazepines (can interfere with iTBS stimulation)
- current pregnancy, to limit potential risks to an unborn child
- non-English speaking (ER skills training delivered in English only)
Check if you might fit
Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.
- Are you between 22 and 65 years old?
Where in United States
- Massachusetts General HospitalBoston, United StatesContact: Kristen Ellard, PhDTaking people
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
Impaired emotion regulation is a core feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and a known driver of functional impairment, interpersonal difficulties, self-harm, and suicidality. Emotion regulation refers to the ways in which people influence and control which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express them. Effective emotion regulation is a precursor to success in a range of adaptive processes including decision making, impulse control, communication and social interaction, work performance and productivity, and goal achievement, with subsequent positive effects on mood stability and well-being.
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Front-line behavioral approaches to teach effective emotion regulation skills in BPD (e.g. DBT) have been moderately successful, but outcomes are limited by high dropout rates due to lengthy treatment protocols and pre-existing deficits in the neurocircuitry supporting engagement in emotion regulation, with poorer outcomes in individuals with more severe emotion dysregulation.
In this pilot feasibility trial, we aim to test an approach to improving emotion dysregulation in BPD by combining neuromodulation using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), to improve functioning of emotion regulation related neurocircuitry, with an intensive, brief emotion regulation skills training protocol. Through this combined approach, we hypothesize increased gains in emotion regulation ability, decreased treatment dropout rates, and improved positive outcomes in patients with BPD.
The group in the trial
- TMS+UPTreatment being tested
Combined accelerated TMS and emotion regulation skills training
Treatment: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and Emotion Regulation Skills Training
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations
Print a page for my doctorData and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Fit questions
- Built from NCT07714005, who can take part
- Record updated
- 26 October 2026