PERSONALITY-DISORDERS IN PULMONARY PATIENTS

A sample of 59 patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) was compared to matched samples of psychiatric patient s and normal individuals with respect to personality disorders (PDs) a ssessed by a self-report measure (VKP) (Duijsens, Eurelings-Bontekoe, Diekstra & Ouwersloot, 1993a, b). The number of PDs differed significa ntly between pulmonary and psychiatric patients, while there was no si gnificant difference between pulmonary patients and normal individuals . Comparison of the number of diagnosis criteria yielded significant c ontrasts between psychiatric patients versus the normal individuals an d the pulmonary patients. Pulmonary patients and normal individuals sh owed significantly lower mean number of criteria met than matched psyc hiatric patients for nearly all of the diagnoses. It is concluded that PDs are no more prevalent in asthma and COPD patients than in the gen eral population.