Recruiting

Brain Stimulation

Sponsor:

UCLA

Code:

NCT07197502

Conditions

Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline Personality

BPD - Borderline Personality Disorder

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 65

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

Study Details

Brief summary:

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.

Conditions

Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline Personality

BPD - Borderline Personality Disorder

Study ID

NCT07197502

Start date

Mar 1, 2025

Status verified date

Aug, 2026

Completion date

Dec 31, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Dec 31, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 65

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

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

Study Design

Enrollment

30 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Crossover

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Active

Subjects in this group will receive active TMS treatment at vlPFC delivered by a magnet called A/P (active/placebo) coil. The A/P coil supports double-blinding of treatment. The coil has two sides, one of which is shielded so that no energy is imparted to the brain when the shielded side is applied to the subject's head. Small skin electrodes are applied to the scalp under the coil that impart a small microcurrent to the scalp simulating the sensation of active treatment. The operator receives a code from the device instructing them which side of the coil to use for each subject, ensuring complete treatment blinding.

experimental: Sham- followed by Active treatment

Patients will be randomized to receive active or sham at vlPFC. Subjects assigned to the sham-controlled condition will be offered the opportunity to cross-over to open - label TMS treatment at the conclusion of the double-blind phase. This phase will serve as an incentive to recruitment because it ensures that all subjects (even those initially receiving sham stimulation) will eventually be eligible to receive active treatment. Rating scale scores will be obtained in the open-label extension just as scheduled in the controlled phase to gather additional information on efficacy of the active intervention.

Interventions

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

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 outcome measure

  • Borderline Symptom List 23 (BSL-23) [ Time Frame: Baseline (Day 1) and Post treatment (Day 17) ]
  • Clinical Global Impression for Borderline Personality Disorder (CGI-BPD) [ Time Frame: Baseline (Day 1) and Post treatment (Day 17) ]
  • Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) [ Time Frame: Baseline (Day 1) and Post treatment (Day 17) ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Elizabeth Pinkerton

310-794-0331EPinkerton@mednet.ucla.edu

Research Coordinator

TMSResearch@mednet.ucla.edu

Locations

Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA

Recruiting

Los Angeles, California, United States, 90024

Contacts

Elizabeth Pinkerton

310-794-0331EPinkerton@mednet.ucla.edu

Research Coordinator

TMSResearch@mednet.ucla.edu

Semel Institute/ UCLA TMS

Recruiting

Los Angeles, California, United States, 90024

Contacts

Elizabeth Pinkerton, BS

310-794-0331EPinkerton@mednet.ucla.edu

UCLA TMS Research Coordinator

TMSResearch@mednet.ucla.edu

Principal Investigator:

Andrew Leuchter, MD

More Information

Sponsor

University of California, Los Angeles

Last update posted

Aug 10, 2026

Last verified

Aug, 2026

Keywords

  • BPD
  • rTMS
  • TMS
  • Borderline Personality Disorder

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-09. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of California, Los Angeles on 2026-08-10.