Db. Marlowe et al., IMPACT OF COMORBID PERSONALITY-DISORDERS AND PERSONALITY-DISORDER SYMPTOMS ON OUTCOMES OF BEHAVIORAL TREATMENT FOR COCAINE DEPENDENCE, The Journal of nervous and mental disease, 185(8), 1997, pp. 483-490
Studies have revealed a significant adverse impact of comorbid persona
lity disorders on treatment tenure and outcome in a variety of psychia
tric and substance abuse populations. We investigated whether this neg
ative relationship also exists among 137 urban, poor, cocaine abusers
in behaviorally oriented treatment. Axis II diagnoses were generated c
ategorically using the SCID-II as well as dimensionally using numbers
of SCID-II symptoms within diagnostic categories. Contrary to expectat
ions, there were no significant differences between subjects with and
without various categorical personality disorders on any outcome measu
res. Categorical Axis II diagnoses were also minimally correlated with
drug use severity, depression, and anxiety at intake, indicating that
these were not potential covariates of outcome. However, dimensional
analyses of personality symptoms generated from the SCID-II accounted
for substantial proportions of variance in treatment outcomes. Implica
tions of these data for Axis II assessment and drug treatment planning
are discussed.