Personality disorders in first‐episode psychosis

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of personality disorders in the early course of first‐episode psychosis and their likely presence in the premorbid period. Fifty‐five patients were enrolled at baseline and premorbid function was evaluated by the Premorbid Adjustment Scale. Thirty‐three of these of the patients were assessed at two‐year follow‐up for comorbid personality disorders by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM‐IV Personality Disorders and by the self‐report instrument Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory‐II. Half of the patients met the criteria of two or more personality disorders, while one‐third of the patients did not fulfil the criteria for any personality disorder. The schizoid and the avoidant were the most frequent personality disorders and both were associated with social withdrawal during childhood and adolescence. The limitation of the study is the small sample, the retrospective assessment and a 40% attrition rate. The strengths are that it is a clinical epidemiological sample of first‐episode psychotic patients and that different but complimentary measures of the personality disorders were used. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.