PERSONALITY-DISORDERS IN PROBLEMATIC MEDICAL PATIENTS

To better understand problematic medical patients, the psychiatric dia gnoses of 448 patients referred to a behavioral medicine clinic were e xamined. Forty-two percent met DSM-III-R personality disorder criteria . Analysis of the comorbidity of Axis I and Axis II diagnoses revealed a statistically significant co-occurrence between somatoform and pers onality disorders (P < 0.0001). Some of the difficulties in making a p ersonality disorder diagnosis are reviewed, as are reasons why knowled ge of personality disorder diagnoses is important to medical providers .