2007 Young Investigator Award Winner

Dr. Nicolas Rüsch

Nicolas Rüsch, MD
Marie Curie Outgoing International Fellowship
Illinois Institute of Technology
Chicago, Illinois

Description of Nicolas Rüsch’s research interests:
Nicolas Rüsch has three main areas of research interest: (1) emotions such as shame and the self-concept in persons with borderline personality disorder. This work includes both self-report data and the implicit measures such as the Implicit Association Test; (2) structural neuroimaging in borderline personality disorder using voxel-based morphometry and diffusion tensor imaging; and (3) public and self-stigma that affect people with borderline personality disorder and other mental illnesses.

Dr. Nicholas Rusch with Dr. Alan Fruzzetti, NEABPD Director of Research

Dr. Rüsch pictured with NEABPD Director of Research, Alan E. Fruzzetti, Ph.D.

Abstract of Nicolas Rüsch’s Paper

Shame and implicit self-concept in women with borderline personality disorder
Authors: Nicolas Rüsch, Klaus Lieb, Ines Göttler, Christiane Hermann, Elisabeth Schramm, Harald Richter, Gitta A. Jacob, Patrick W. Corrigan and Martin Bohus. American Journal of Psychiatry 2007, 164 (3): 500-508.

Objective: Shame is considered to be a central emotion in borderline personality disorder (BPD) and to be related to self-injurious behavior, chronic suicidality and anger-hostility. However, its level and impact on people with BPD are largely unknown. Therefore this study examined the levels of self-reported shame, guilt, anxiety and implicit shame-related self-concept in women with BPD and also assessed the association of shame with self-esteem, quality of life and anger-hostility.

Method: Sixty women with BPD were assessed using self-report measures of shame- and guilt-proneness, state shame, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, quality of life and clinical symptomatology. Control groups consisted of 30 women with social phobia and 60 healthy women. Implicit shame-related self-concept (relative to anxiety) was assessed by the Implicit Association Test.

Results: Women with BPD showed higher levels of shame- and guilt-proneness, state shame and anxiety than women with social phobia and healthy controls. The implicit self-concept in women with BPD was more shame-prone (relative to anxiety-prone) than in healthy controls and women with social phobia. After controlling for depression, shame-proneness was negatively correlated with self-esteem and quality of life and positively correlated with anger-hostility.

Conclusions: Prominent in women with BPD, shame is associated with the implicit self-concept as well as with poorer quality of life and self-esteem and higher anger-hostility. Psychotherapeutic approaches to BPD need to address explicit and implicit aspects of shame.

Biographical Information:
After a Master of Studies in Classics from the University of Oxford, UK, in 1994, Nicolas Rüsch received his MD from the University of Freiburg, Germany, in 2000. He completed his specialization in adult psychiatry in 2007 after clinical and research training at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Freiburg, Germany, and the IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy. He is currently, 2008, as a post-doc with Prof. Patrick W. Corrigan at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, working on mental illness stigma and funded by a Marie Curie Outgoing International Fellowship of the European Union.

Selected Publications:
Rüsch N, Angermeyer MC, Corrigan PW (2005), Mental illness stigma: Concepts, consequences, and initiatives to reduce stigma. European Psychiatry 25(8): 529-539.
Rüsch N, Corrigan PW (2002), Motivational interviewing to improve insight and treatment adherence in schizophrenia. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal 26: 23-32.
Rüsch N, Corrigan PW, Bohus M, Jacob GA, Brück R, Lieb K (2007), Measuring shame and guilt by self-report questionnaires: A validation study. Psychiatry Research 150: 313-327.
Rüsch N, Corrigan PW, Bohus M, Kühler T, Jacob GA, Lieb K (2007), The impact of posttraumatic stress disorder on dysfunctional implicit and explicit emotions among women with borderline personality disorder. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease 195: 537-539.
Rüsch N, Hölzer A, Hermann C, Schramm E, Jacob GA, Bohus M, Lieb K, Corrigan PW (2006), Self-stigma in women with borderline personality disorder and women with social phobia. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease 194 (10): 766-773.
Rüsch N, Lieb K, Bohus M, Corrigan PW (2006), Self-stigma, empowerment, and perceived legitimacy of discrimination among women with mental illness. Psychiatric Services 57, 399-402.
Rüsch N, Lieb K, Göttler I, Hermann C, Schramm E, Richter H, Corrigan PW, Bohus M (2007), Shame and implicit self-concept in women with borderline personality disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry 164 (3): 500-508.
Rüsch N, Luders E, Lieb K, Zahn R, Ebert D, Thompson PM, Toga AW, Tebartz van Elst L (2007). Corpus callosum abnormalities in women with borderline personality disorder and comorbid attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience 32: 417-422.
Rüsch N, Schiel S, Corrigan PW, Leihener F, Jacob GA, Olschewski M, Lieb K, Bohus M (2008). Predictors of dropout from inpatient dialectical behavior therapy among women with borderline personality disorder. Journal of Behavior Therapy & Experimental Psychiatry.
Rüsch N, Spoletini I, Wilke M, Bria P, Di Paola M, Di Iulio F, Martinotti G, Caltagirone C, Spalletta G (2007). Prefrontal-thalamic-cerebellar gray matter networks and executive functioning in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research 93: 79-89.
Rüsch N, Spoletini I, Wilke M, Martinotti G, Bria P, Trequattrini A, Bonaviri G, Caltagirone C, Spalletta G (2008). Inferior frontal white matter volume and suicidality in schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging.
Rüsch N, Tebartz van Elst L, Ludäscher P, Wilke M, Huppertz HJ, Thiel T, Schmahl C, Bohus M, Lieb K, Hesslinger B, Hennig J, Ebert D (2003), A voxel-based morphometric MRI study in female patients with borderline personality disorder. NeuroImage 20: 385-392.
Rüsch N, Tebartz van Elst L, Valerius G, Büchert M, Thiel T, Ebert D, Hennig J, Olbrich HM (2008). Neurochemical and structural correlates of executive dysfunction in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research.
Rüsch N, Weber M, Il’yasov K, Lieb K, Ebert D, Hennig J, Tebartz van Elst L (2007). Inferior frontal white matter microstructure and patterns of psychopathology in women with borderline personality disorder and comorbid attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. NeuroImage 35: 738-747.