Personality disorders in patients in a day-treatment programme for eating disorders

Abstract

The present study examined the prevalence of DSM-III-R personality disorders (PDs) and levels of depressive symptoms in patients in a day-hospital programme for eating disorders. Sixty-®ve patients diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa were administered the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire Revised (PDQ-R), the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). In total, 49.2 per cent of all patients had at least one PD diagnosis. No signi®cant difference was found between patients with bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa. Eating Disorder patients with at least one PD had higher scores on the BDI and three EDI subscales compared to patients without a PD. In general, the prevalence of Personality Disorders in the present sample tended to be closer to results quoted by studies with eating-disordered outpatients rather than inpatients. Axis I disorders may affect personality state measures.