Objective: This study examined the co-occurrence of anxiety/mood and person
ality disorders (PDs) in substance abusers, the impact of anxiety/mood diso
rders on the symptom profiles of PDs, and the impact of anxiety/mood disord
ers and PDs on pre-treatment status,
Method: Current anxiety/mood disorders and PDs and pre-treatment status wer
e assessed using semi-structured interviews in 370 treated substance abuser
s.
Results: Anxiety/mood disorders and PDs frequently co-occurred, with the ov
erall pattern of associations being non-specific. The strongest association
s were of social phobia with avoidant and schizotypal PD, and of major depr
ession with borderline PD. However, symptom profiles of PDs were not associ
ated with anxiety/mood disorders. Finally, anxiety/mood disorders and PDs w
ere both independently and differentially associated with poor pre-treatmen
t characteristics.
Conclusion: The findings suggest the clinical importance of obtaining both
Axis I and Axis II diagnoses ill treated substance abusers, and highlight t
he distinctiveness of the Axis I and Axis II disorders.