Prevalence of personality disorders among patients with anxiety disorders.
Outpatients with a principal diagnosis of an anxiety disorder (n = 347) were administered the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R/Axis II Disorders (SCID-II) during their intake evaluation. At least one personality disorder was found in 35% of these patients. Patients with social phobia (61%) and generalized anxiety disorder (49%) were most often diagnosed with a personality disorder. Patients with simple phobia were rarely diagnosed with a personality disorder (12%). The most commonly diagnosed personality disorders were from the "anxious/fearful" cluster (27% received at least one diagnosis from cluster C), most notably avoidant and obsessive-compulsive personality. Our findings suggest that personality disorders, in general, are less prevalent among anxious patients than among depressive patients.
Department of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY 10467-2490.
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Sanderson
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Wetzler
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Beck
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Betz
D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D015995:Prevalence; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales