Personality disorders in long term non-psychotic patients

Summary

Half of a random sample of 39 non-psychotic patients using Camberwell psychiatric services continuously for more than 3 years were diagnosed “personality disorder” by their psychiatrist. The process of this labelling, its social correlates and the clinical implications were examined using casenote data and measurements of psychiatric morbidity and social disability. The personality disorder group were younger, made their first contact with psychiatric services at a younger age, and were more likely to be male and to have had a minor forensic history. The level of neurotic symptoms was comparable to that in other long term non-psychotic patients. The personality disorder diagnostic group exhibited more problems related to living skills, and were more dissatisfied with their social network. They were more likely to be receiving anxiolytics. They had not exhibited more disturbed behaviour during the past one year than the group with other diagnoses. The psychiatrists estimated similar service needs for both groups but the research team judged that new interventions were indicated more frequently for personality disorder diagnosed individuals.