Personality disorders in problematic medical patients.
To better understand problematic medical patients, the psychiatric diagnoses of 448 patients referred to a behavioral medicine clinic were examined. Forty-two percent met DSM-III-R personality disorder criteria. Analysis of the comorbidity of Axis I and Axis II diagnoses revealed a statistically significant co-occurrence between somatoform and personality disorders (P < 0.0001). Some of the difficulties in making a personality disorder diagnosis are reviewed, as are reasons why knowledge of personality disorder diagnoses is important to medical providers.
Portland VA Medical Center, Psychology Service, OR.
J
J
Emerson
L
L
Pankratz
S
S
Joos
S
S
Smith
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D012803:Sick Role; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology