Pure personality disorders in an intake psychiatric setting

The study focuses on patients seeking psychiatric care in a public setting whose sole diagnosis is that of a personality disorder (PD). These pure PD patients are compared with PD patients who also received Axis I diagnoses. Pure PD patients tend to be White, younger, more educated, and of relative social advantage. The presence of an additional Axis I disorder appears to be associated with social disadvantage and marginality. Some of the factors that may account of this are discussed. Borderline and schizotypal PD are overrepresented among pure PD patients and the reasons for this are also discussed. Pure PD patients also show distinctive clinical characteristics as assessed by means of the multiaxial resources of DSM-III. In particular, they show lower ratings on symptoms, social impairment, and stressor severity than PD patients with an Axis I disorder. Either the impact produced by PD is additive to that produced by Axis I disorders or PD are integral to clinical conditions that promote uncertainty in the clinician and lead to diagnostic complexity.