PERSONALITY-DISORDER AMONG FIRST EVER ADMISSIONS TO AN IRISH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE HOSPITAL

Objective: The identification of personality disorder among psychiatri c in-patients is important because of the effect on the course and out come of illness, The introduction of a multiaxial approach to diagnosi s, has resulted in a higher than previously reported rate of occurrenc e of personality disorder in a variety of psychiatric settings. A prev alence of personality disorder of 4.9% is reported in the official sta tistics for Irish psychiatric hospitals, The aim of this study is to d etermine the true prevalence of personality disorders in two Irish psy chiatric hospitals, one public and one private, using a multiaxial app roach to diagnosis. Methods: The Standardised Assessment of Personalit y (SAP) is a validated, semistructured, informant based instrument tha t reliably generates diagnoses of personality disorder irrespective of current mental state, Over a four month period, 78 consecutive, first ever admissions to two hospitals were examined using the SAP. Results : The prevalence of personality disorder in this population was 26%, T here was no significant difference in the rate of personality disorder between the public and private institutions. Conclusions: The prevale nce of personality disorder amongst in-patients in both public and pri vate psychiatric hospitals in Ireland is far higher than previously re ported, This highlights the importance of a multiaxial approach to dia gnosis in order to establish the true extent of psychiatric morbidity.