Should Self-Defeating Personality Disorder be Revisited in the DSM?

This study evaluated self-defeating personality disorder’s viability as a diagnostic category. Its internal consistency, comorbidity with other Axis I & II disorders, association with psychosocial impairment, & its ability to predict overall impairment in past, current, & global levels of functioning beyond other personality disorder symptomatology was assessed in 1200 psychiatric patients. The self-defeating personality disorder group did not differ significantly from psychiatric controls of multiple measures of psychosocial impairment, global functioning, & suicidality. It is concluded data do not support the reliablity, validity, & utility of the self-defeating personality disorder diagnosis. (40 refs.)