Does a parent training for mothers with Borderline Personality Disorder influence epigenetic changes of oxytocin related genes in mother-child dyads?

This study aims to investigate whether an intervention to improve parenting skills of mothers with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is associated with DNA methylation changes of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) within mother-child dyads. We will test in mother-child dyads whether i) OXTR DNA methylation levels are altered in mothers with BPD and their children; ii) the effects of an intervention to improve parenting skills are reflected in dynamic alterations of OXTR DNA methylation; iii) intervention-associated changes are associated with changes in OXTR DNA methylation; and iv) differences in OXTR DNA methylation before treatment predict intervention outcome. This study includes 120 mothers with BPD and their children, along with 60 mother-child-dyads in both the clinical and healthy control groups. Mothers with BPD are randomly assigned to the intervention or waiting group. OXTR DNA methylation is assessed longitudinally (before and two times after intervention) in mothers-child dyads.