ASSESSMENT OF PERSONALITY-DISORDERS IN ANOREXIA-NERVOSA AND BULIMIA-NERVOSA - A COMPARISON OF SELF-REPORT AND STRUCTURED INTERVIEW METHODS

Interest in assessing Personality Disorders (PDs) in association with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) has been accompanied by the development of several structured interview and self-report measu res. In an attempt to see how the self-report Millon Clinical Multiaxi al Inventory (MCMI-II) compared with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID-II) in the assessment of PDs, me gave both instru ments to 43 inpatients with a diagnosis of AN or BN. Correlation coeff icient values for both categorical and dimensional comparisons were ge nerally less than .4. Although comparable rates of positive PDs occurr ed for each of the three clusters (A: 30.2% vs. 34.9%, B: 25.6% vs. 18 .6%, and C: 62.8% vs. 81.4% for SCID-II vs. MCMI-II), agreement for in dividual diagnosis and individual subjects was poor. In conclusion, th e MCMI-II did not prove to be a reliable instrument for assessing axis II PDs in patients with AN and BN when compared with the SCID-II.