Twelve month test-retest reliability of a Japanese version of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders

The purpose of the present study was to examine the long-interval test-retest reliability of the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edn; DSM-IV) Axis II Personality Disorders (SCID-II) Japanese version. One hundred and twenty outpatients with anxiety disorders completed the self-report SCID-II personality questionnaire (SCID-II-PQ) and structured interviews, and then again 12 months later. In the SCID-II-PQ, 70.8% and 71.7% of the patients had a personality disorder (PD) at the first evaluation and second evaluation 12 months later, respectively, and Cohen's kappas ranged from 0.29 for paranoid PD to 0.83 for histrionic PD, and overall kappa was 0.56. In the SCID-II interviews, 47.5% and 41.7% of the patients fulfilled the criteria for PD at the first and the second evaluations, respectively. At least one PD was identified in 49 subjects (40.8%), of whom 65.3% had one PD, 30.6% had two PD, 2% had three PD, and 2% had four PD; the most frequently diagnosed PD were from cluster C (60.9%). The overall base rate of 12 PD was 7%, and overall kappa was 0.87. Cohen's kappas ranged from 0.86 for obsessive-compulsive PD to 0.93 for avoidant PD and schizoid PD, and were comparable with those in the previous interrater studies. The test-retest reliability of the SCID-II-PQ was moderately good, and after the SCID-II interview the test-retest reliability of the SCID-II appeared to be of almost perfect reliability. This first long-interval, large-sample, non-Western-language research on the test-retest reliability of the SCID-II for DSM-IV indicated its usefulness and excellent reliability.     

Patterns of covariation of DSM-IV personality disorders in a mixed psychiatric sample

The covariation patterns of DSM-IV personality disorders (PDs) were studied in 431 consecutively admitted psychiatric patients. The co-occurrence rate was greater than 50% for all DSM-IV PDs. Both bivariate association tests and loglinear models showed distinct significant covariation patterns among PDs which were stable across confounder strata. DSM-IV PD clusters were not replicated, with the exception of cluster A. Principal-component analysis (PCA) showed the presence of 3 latent dimensions, thus explaining the DSM-IV PD covariation patterns. These results seem to stress the inadequacy of the DSM-IV categorical model of PD assessment. The need for a reduction of axis II categories and the inclusion of a dimensional model in the diagnostic assessment of DSM-IV PDs are discussed.     

DSM-IV obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: prevalence in patients with anxiety disorders and in healthy comparison subjects

The relationship between obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) has not yet been fully clarified. The aim of the present study was to analyze DSM-IV OCPD prevalence rates in OCD and panic disorder (PD) patients to test for the specificity of the OCPD-OCD link, and to compare them to OCPD prevalence in a control group of subjects without any psychiatric disorder. A total of 109 patients with a principal diagnosis of DSM-IV (SCID-I) OCD and 82 with PD were interviewed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Disorders (SCID-II) in order to assess the prevalence of OCPD. All patients with a coexisting axis I diagnosis were excluded from the study to eliminate confounding factors when evaluating the association between prevalence rates of OCPD and anxiety disorder diagnoses. An exclusion criteria was also a Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) score >/=16. A sample of comparison subjects (age 18 to 65 years) without any psychiatric disorder was recruited from people registered with two general practitioners (GPs), whether or not they consulted the doctor, in order to evaluate OCPD prevalence rate in the community. A significant difference was found between the prevalence of OCPD in OCD (22.9%) and in PD (17.1%) on one hand, and that in the comparison sample (3.0%) on the other. No differences were found between the two psychiatric groups, even when splitting the samples according to gender. Our study failed to support the hypothesis of a specific relationship between OCPD and OCD; we confirmed the higher prevalence rate of this personality disorder in OCD subjects with regard to the general population, but we also confirmed the higher rate of OCPD in another anxiety disorder which is phenomenologically well characterized and different from OCD, such as PD.     

Internal consistency, intercriterion overlap and diagnostic efficiency of criteria sets for DSM-IV schizotypal, borderline, avoidant and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate performance characteristics of DSM-IV Personality Disorders (PDs) criteria. METHOD: Six hundred and sixty-eight adults recruited for the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study (CLPS) were assessed with diagnostic interviews. RESULTS: Within-category inter-relatedness was evaluated by Cronbach's alpha and median intercriterion correlations (MIC). Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.47 to 0.87 (median=0.71); seven of the 10 PDs had alphas greater than 0.70. Between-category criterion overlap was evaluated by "inter-category" intercriterion correlations between all PD pairs (ICMIC). ICMIC values (median=0.08) were lower than MIC values (median=0.23). Diagnostic efficiency statistics (sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive power and negative predictive power were calculated for schizotypal, borderline, avoidant and obsessive-compulsive PDs. CONCLUSION: DSM-IV PD criteria sets have some convergent validity and discriminant validity: criteria for individual PDs correlate better with each other than with criteria for other PDs. Diagnostic efficiency statistics provide guidance regarding usefulness of criteria for inclusion or exclusion.     

Dimensional representations of DSM-IV personality disorders: relationships to functional impairment

OBJECTIVE: This study compared three-dimensional representations of DSM-IV personality disorders and standard categories with respect to their associations with psychosocial functioning. METHOD: Six hundred sixty-eight patients with semistructured interview diagnoses of schizotypal, borderline, avoidant, or obsessive-compulsive personality disorders or with major depressive disorder and no personality disorder completed questionnaires assessing three-factor and five-factor dimensional models of personality. Personality disorder categories, dimensional representations of the categories based on criteria counts, and three- and five-factor personality dimensions were compared on their relationships to impairment in seven domains of functioning, as measured by the Longitudinal Interval Follow-up Evaluation-Baseline Version. RESULTS: Both the categorical and dimensional representations of DSM-IV personality disorders had stronger relationships to impairment in functioning in the domains of employment, social relationships with parents and friends, and global social adjustment and to DSM-IV axis V ratings than the three- and five-factor models. DSM-IV dimensions predicted functional impairment best of the four approaches. Although five-factor personality traits captured variance in functional impairment not predicted by DSM-IV personality disorder dimensions, the DSM-IV dimensions accounted for significantly more variance than the measures of personality. CONCLUSIONS: Scores on dimensions of general personality functioning do not appear to be as strongly associated with functional impairment as the psychopathology of DSM personality disorder. A compromise in the ongoing debate over categories versus dimensions of personality disorder might be the dimensional rating of the criteria that comprise traditional categories.     

Acute and transient psychotic disorder: comorbidity with personality disorder

A study sample of 51 patients with acute and transient psychotic disorder (ATPD) (ICD-10) is presented. The findings suggest that, in hospital settings, ATPD is a non-frequent condition with onset in early adult life and most often associated with female sex, good premorbid social functioning and no or minor/moderate psychosocial stressors. The DSM-IV criteria distribute the patients into three diagnostic categories: schizophreniform disorder (41%), brief psychotic disorder (33%) and psychotic disorder not otherwise classified (25%). A high prevalence (63%) of personality disorders (PD) is revealed after recovery from the psychotic episode. The ATPD is not related to any specific PD, and in a substantial minority (37%) of cases no PD is found. The unspecified category is by far the most frequent PD in patients with ATPD. The sample will be followed up and reassessed.     

DSM-IV and new diagnostic categories: holding the line on proliferation.

The authors discuss aspects of the decision-making process for including "new" diagnostic categories in DSM-IV. They detail the different kinds of new categories proposed for inclusion in DSM-IV and discuss the risks and benefits of incorporating them. The authors comment on whether new diagnostic categories should be included in official nosologies as a stimulus for research or as a culmination of research. They also highlight problems with "sunsetting" diagnoses. The criteria for change in DSM-IV--a way to deal with the expanding array of proposals for additional diagnostic entities--are discussed. The authors also offer a series of specific examples of the different kinds of new categories being considered for inclusion in DSM-IV.     

Frequency of comorbid personality disorders in bipolar and unipolar affective disorders

One expression of the complex relationship between personality and affective disorder is the comorbidity of personality disorders (PDs) with affective disorders. In a sample of 117 patients with unipolar and 60 with bipolar affective disorders, we assessed DSM-III-R PDs with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders (SCID-II) and compared them with personality factors as obtained by the five-factor model (FFM-NEO Five-Factor Inventory). Fifty-one percent of the unipolar and 38% of the bipolar disorders fulfilled criteria for a comorbid PD. The three most frequent PDs were obsessive-compulsive PD, borderline PD, and narcissistic (bipolar) or avoidant (unipolar) PD. Cluster C PDs and especially avoidant PD occurred significantly more frequently in unipolar than in bipolar patients, while narcissistic PD occurred significantly more often in bipolar than in unipolar patients. The FFM results supported the validity of our PD diagnoses. In a logistic regression analysis, higher depression score at the time of the SCID-II interview and shorter duration of the illness were weakly related to a higher frequency of PDs. Our results indicate that PDs are frequent in affective disorders and that there are subtle differences between unipolar and bipolar patients concerning such comorbid disorders.     

Personality disorders and the trimensional personality questionnaire factors in major depressive disorder

We assessed the potential relationship between personality disorder (PD) clusters, as assessed by the SCID-II, and temperamental traits assessed by the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) among a well-characterized, unmedicated cohort of outpatients with major depressive disorder (MDD). The TPQ and SCID-II were administered to 263 depressed outpatients (mean age = 39.9 +/- 10.5 years; women = 139, 53%; initial 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression = 19.6 +/- 3.4) who currently met criteria for MDD and who were enrolled in an 8-week treatment trial. The multiple linear regression method was used to evaluate the relationship between TPQ factors and personality disorder clusters, controlling for age, gender, and initial 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression score as necessary. Among outpatients with MDD, meeting criteria for a Cluster A PD diagnosis was related to high harm avoidance (HA) scores, as well as low reward dependence and novelty seeking (NS) scores. Additionally, high HA scores were associated with meeting criteria for a Cluster C PD diagnosis, while high NS scores were associated with meeting criteria for a Cluster B PD diagnosis. Certain temperament traits, especially HA and NS, appear to be associated with specific patterns of personality clusters among depressed patients.     

Diagnostic efficiency and hierarchical functioning of the DSM-IV borderline personality disorder criteria

This study presents information regarding the diagnostic efficiency and hierarchical functioning of the newly revised DSM-IV borderline personality disorder (BPD) criteria. Past research using the DSM-III-R version of BPD showed that the individual BPD criteria differ greatly in their diagnostic utility and that in some clinical situations, fewer than five of eight criteria could efficiently make the diagnosis. Two groups of inpatients, a BPD group (N = 33) and a non-BPD group (N = 43), were rated on the DSM-IV BPD criteria. Acceptable interrater reliability (Kappa estimates) was obtained for the presence or absence of the nine individual BPD criteria. Diagnostic efficiency statistics, sensitivity, specificity, false positive and false negative rates, positive predictive power, negative predictive power, overall classification rate and Kappa with the clinical diagnosis were obtained for all nine BPD criteria. The diagnostic efficiency data indicated that BPD criteria 1 (abandonment) and 2 (unstable relationships) functioned best in our inpatient sample, whereas criterion 9 (stress-related paranoia) performed the poorest. A stepwise logistic regression showed that the combination of BPD criteria 2, 1, 6 (unstable affect), and 3 (identity) (presented in their order of entry into the regression equation) provided the best prediction of group membership (BPD or non-BPD). The results suggest that a further refinement of both the BPD criteria set and the diagnostic decision rules may be needed.     

The perceived clarity and understandability of the DSM-IV personality disorder criteria sets

One of the expressed aims of the DSM-IV revision process was to "increase the clarity" and the understandability of the personality disorder (PD) criteria. This was an important goal as previous research had showed the DSM-III-R PD criteria to have problems with clarity. To assess the degree to which this goal was achieved, we had two groups (psychiatrists and lay persons) rate the clarity of the DSM-IV PD criteria and the criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The lay group rated five of the 10 PDs criteria sets and the criteria for PTSD as being significantly more clear than did the mental health professionals. No difference was seen between the two groups on their ratings of the MDD criteria. In addition, the professional group rated two of the PD criteria sets (borderline and schizotypal) as being less clear than the MDD criteria, while the lay group rated eight of the PD criteria sets as being more clear than the MDD criteria.     

Identifying personality disorders: towards the development of a clinical screening instrument

The study objective was to identify a set of personality disorder (PD) criteria from the DSM PD diagnostic sets that can be used to detect subjects with an increased likelihood of having a PD diagnosis. In a series of outpatients evaluated systematically in two waves for every criteria item for 12 DSM-III-R PDs, stepwise logistic regression identified 45 criteria as discriminative for their specific PDs, which are selected for further analysis to assess their ability to discriminate for any PD. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis is used to evaluate their discriminative power in an independent conjoined sample (N = 1,342) from six centers that assessed every PD criteria item by structured instrument (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R PDs [SCID-II, Personality Disorder Examination [PDE], and Structured Interview for DSM-III-R PDs [SIDP-R]). The cutoff that maximizes information gain is used to determine the diagnostic threshold (DT). Initially, 15 of 45 criteria are identified. At the 0.43 PD prevalence, a DT of 2 or more of the 15 PD criteria across samples is optimal. The maximum information gain (MIG) is .42 bits, and the AUR is 0.94+/-.007. Other performance indices at this cutoff are .90 sensitivity, .84 specificity, .81 positive predictive power (PPP), .91 negative predictive power (NPP), and .86 hit rate (HR). Taken collectively, the 15 PD criteria selected by the data reduction techniques suggest a narrowed set to be assessed in screening for the presence or absence of any PD with comparable or better psychometric properties than other tests routinely used for diagnosing medical and psychiatric disorders. If specific PD categorization is needed, a second-step comprehensive assessment should follow.     

Longitudinal diagnostic efficiency of DSM-IV criteria for obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: a 2-year prospective study

OBJECTIVE: To examine the longitudinal diagnostic efficiency of the DSM-IV criteria for obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). METHOD: At baseline, criteria and diagnoses were determined using diagnostic interviews, and blinded assessments were performed 24 months later with 550 participants. Diagnostic efficiency indices (conditional probabilities, total predictive power, and kappa) were calculated for each criterion determined at baseline, using the independent OCPD diagnosis at follow-up as the standard. RESULTS: Longitudinal diagnostic efficiencies for the OCPD criteria varied; findings suggested the overall predictive utility of 'preoccupied with details', 'rigid and stubborn', and 'reluctant to delegate'. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest the predictive validity of three cognitive-interpersonal OCPD criteria.     

Screening for personality disorder: a comparison of personality disorder assessment by patient and informants

The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders (SCID-II Version 2.0) is becoming the most favoured instrument to measure personality disorder but takes up to an hour to complete. The Standardized Assessment of Personality (SAP), an informant-based measure, takes 10 to 15 minutes to complete. Both instruments have been validated independently. This study aimed to determine whether the SAP is a suitable screening instrument for personality disorder as measured by the SCID-II. Fifty-seven psychiatric patients were assessed for personality disorder using both the SAP and the SCID-II. The SAP assessments were conducted blind to the results of the SCID-II assessments. Agreement between the two instruments in this population was low (kappa = 0.3). The level of agreement differed between personality disorder categories, ranging from kappa = 0.4 (antisocial) to 0.1 (narcissistic). In this population of patients, the SAP proved to be a poor screen for the SCID-II. The study highlights the discrepancy between informant and self-report assessments for personality disorder.     

Longitudinal diagnostic efficiency of DSM-IV criteria for borderline personality disorder: a 2-year prospective study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the longitudinal diagnostic efficiency of the DSM-IV criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD). METHODS: At baseline, we used semistructured diagnostic interviews to determine criteria and diagnoses; blinded assessments were performed 24 months later with 550 participants. Diagnostic efficiency indices (specifically, conditional probabilities, total predictive power, and kappa) were calculated for each criterion determined at baseline, with the independent BPD diagnosis at follow-up used as the standard. RESULTS: Longitudinal diagnostic efficiencies for the BPD criteria varied, with the criteria of suicidality or self-injury and unstable relationships demonstrating the most predictive utility. CONCLUSIONS: BPD criteria differ in their predictive utility for the diagnosis of BPD when considered longitudinally. These findings have implications both for clinicians who are considering diagnoses and for researchers concerned with forthcoming revisions of our nosological system.     

Suggested guidelines for including or excluding categories in the DSM-IV

A set of guidelines is proposed for the possible inclusion or exclusion of diagnostic categories in the DSM-IV. For possible inclusion, a new category should meet all of the following five guidelines: adequate literature, specified diagnostic criteria, acceptable interclinician reliability, evidence that the criteria forms a syndrome, and differentiation from other categories. For possible exclusion, a category should possess an inadequate literature, extremely low coverage, or evidence of diagnostic bias. None of the exclusionary guidelines would be invoked if the category refers to a demonstrable disease.     

Impulsivity, aggressiveness, and DSM-IV personality disorders

The aim of this study is to assess whether impulsive and aggressive traits can be placed on a continuum with DSM-IV Cluster B Personality Disorders (PDs) and to determine if different aspects of these personality traits are specifically associated with individual Cluster B PDs. The study group comprised 461 outpatients admitted consecutively to a clinic that specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of PDs. Principal component analyses clearly suggested a five-factor structure of both normal and psychopathological personality traits. Importantly, measures of impulsivity, aggressiveness and novelty seeking formed a part of the principal component that clustered all Cluster B PDs. Regression analyses indicated that impulsive traits were selectively associated with Borderline PD whereas different aspects of aggressiveness were useful in discriminating Narcissistic PD from Antisocial PD. Sensation seeking traits formed a part of Histrionic PD. These results indicate that impulsive/aggressive traits may be useful in explaining both why Cluster B PDs tend to covary, and why they frequently differ in clinical pictures and courses.     

The quality of the DSM-IV obsessive-compulsive personality disorder construct as a prototype category

The study evaluated the quality of the DSM-IV obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) construct as a prototype category. A sample of 2237 patients from the Norwegian Network of Psychotherapeutic Day Hospitals was examined by a variety of psychometric analyses. A high number of OCPD patients (77%) had co-occurrent PDs, but only the co-occurrence with paranoid was significantly higher than expected. Exploratory factor analysis of the PD criteria indicated that OCPD consists of 2 dimensions. The first dimension, perfectionism, was constituted by OCPD criteria only and was significantly related to obsessive-compulsive disorder. The second dimension, aggressiveness, included 2 OCPD criteria, reluctance to delegate and stubbornness, but was also defined by criteria from paranoid, antisocial, and borderline PD. Confirmatory factor analysis of the OCPD criteria indicated a poor fit of both a unitary model and a 3-dimensional model. Overall, the OCPD criteria had poor psychometric properties. Although it seems that the quality of the DSM-IV OCPD as a prototype construct is insufficient, it may be improved by deleting the criteria hoarding behavior and miserliness. Alternative criteria could be related to problems in close relationships involving the need for predictability. Such revisions may add a third dimension to the 2 dimensions of perfectionism and aggressiveness.     

DSM-IV axis II comorbidity with borderline personality disorder in monolingual Hispanic psychiatric outpatients

The authors examined the comorbidity of DSM-IV borderline personality disorder (BPD) with other personality disorders (PD) in a series of adult monolingual (Spanish only) Hispanic psychiatric outpatients with substance use disorders. One hundred outpatients (69 men and 31 women) were assessed with the Spanish version of the Diagnostic Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders. PD co-occurrence in the group of patients with BPD (N = 34) was statistically compared with that in the group without BPD (N = 66). Bonferroni-corrected chi-square analysis showed significant diagnostic comorbidity with BPD for antisocial, avoidant, and depressive PD. However, analyses conducted separately by gender showed no significant comorbidity of any PD with BPD in women and significant comorbidity with antisocial, avoidant, and depressive PD in men. These results suggest that in monolingual Hispanic psychiatric outpatients with substance use disorders, gender may play a role in the nature of BPD comorbidity. The BPD diagnosis may represent a broader range of psychopathology in Hispanic men than women.     

Temperament profiles in personality disorders among a young adult population

The objective of this study was to describe the temperament dimension profiles assessed by the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) among young adults with the DSM-III-R personality disorder (PD). Our hypothesis was that PD clusters and separate PDs can be distinguished from one another by their specific temperament profiles. As a part of the 31-year follow-up survey of the prospective Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort, the cohort members living in the city of Oulu at the age of 31 years (n=1609) were invited to participate in a two-phase field study. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R for PDs (SCID-II) was used as diagnostic instrument. The final study sample consisted of the 1311 subjects who had completed the Hopkins Symptom Check List-25 questionnaire for screening and had given a written informed consent. Of the 321 SCID interviewed subjects, 74 met the criteria for at least one PD and had completed the TCI. The mean TCI scores of subjects with PD and control subjects without PD (n=910) were compared. Low Novelty Seeking, high Harm Avoidance and low Reward Dependence characterized cluster A and C PDs. Subjects with a cluster B PD did not differ from controls, except for Novelty Seeking, which was high. The temperament dimensions could not distinguish different PDs very well, with the only exception of persons with obsessive-compulsive PD. PD clusters were associated with different profiles of temperament, lending some support for Cloninger's typology.