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BackgroundImpulsivity is a core symptom of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Impulsivity is a heterogeneous concept, and a comprehensive evaluation of impulsivity dimensions is lacking in the literature. Moreover, it is unclear whether BPD patients manifest impaired cognitive functioning that might be associated with impulsivity in another patient group, such as ADHD, a frequent comorbidity of BPD.MethodsWe tested 39 patients with BPD without major psychiatric comorbidities and ADHD, 25 patients with ADHD, and 55 healthy controls (HC) using a test battery consisting of a self-report measure of impulsivity (UPPS-P questionnaire), behavioral measures of impulsivity – impulsive action (Go/NoGo task, stop signal task) and impulsive choice (delay discounting task, Iowa gambling task), and standardized measures of attention (d2 test), working memory (digit span), and executive functioning (Tower of London).ResultsPatients with BPD and ADHD, as compared with HC, manifested increased self-reported impulsivity except sensation seeking and increased impulsive choice; patients with ADHD but not BPD showed increased impulsive action and deficits in cognitive functioning. Negative urgency was increased in BPD as compared to both HC and ADHD groups and correlated with BPD severity.ConclusionsPatients with BPD without ADHD comorbidity had increased self-reported impulsivity and impulsive choice, but intact impulsive action and cognitive functioning. Controlling for ADHD comorbidity in BPD samples is necessary. Negative urgency is the most diagnostically specific impulsivity dimension in BPD.

University study can be a life period of heightened psychological distress for many students. The development of new preventive and intervention programs to support well-being in university students is a fundamental challenge for mental health professionals. We designed an 8-week online mindfulness-based program (eMBP) combining a face-to-face approach, text, audio, video components, and support psychotherapy principles with a unique intensive reminder system using the Facebook Messenger and Slack applications in two separate runs (N = 692). We assessed the program’s effect on mindful experiencing, perceived stress, emotion regulation strategies, self-compassion, negative affect, and quality of life. The results of the presented pilot study confirmed that eMBP is a feasible and effective tool in university students’ mental health support. The students who completed the eMBP reported a reduction of perceived stress with a large effect size (pη2 = 0.42) as well as a decrease of negative affect experience frequency and intensity (pη2 = 0.31), an increase of being mindful in their life (Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire subscales:pη2 = 0.21, 0.27, 0.25, 0.28, 0.28), and a higher rate of self-compassion (pη2 = 0.28) with a medium effect size. A small effect size was found in the frequency of using a cognitive reappraisal strategy (pη2 = 0.073). One new result is the observation of an eMBP effect (pη2 = 0.27) on the decrease in attributed importance to the quality-of-life components replicated in two consecutive runs of the program. The study affirms that mindfulness-based interventions can be effectively delivered in an eHealth form to university students.