Revised NESARC Personality Disorder Diagnoses: Gender, Prevalence, and Comorbidity With Substance Dependence Disorders

The authors applied different diagnostic rules for diagnosing personality disorders to the NESARC epidemiological study of over 40,000 individuals. Each personality disorder criterion was required to be associated with significant distress or impairment in order to be counted toward a personality disorder diagnosis. Results demonstrated significant reductions in prevalence rates. Personality disorder diagnoses were associated with scores on dysfunction & impairment, perceived stress & less social support, lifetime history of suicide attempts, interpersonal difficulties, & problems with legal authorities. (24 refs.) JA