Personality Disorders: A Burden in the Community, Neglected in the Clinic?

Abstract

Comments on an article by Kirsten Penner-Goeke et al. (see record 2016-05618-003). Penner-Goeke et al. examined losses in quality of life (QoL) years associated with common mental and physical disorders in the large (US) sample of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). The authors were especially interested in assessing the impact of personality disorders on QoL, since personality disorders have rarely been studied in comparison to other disorders in community populations. Penner-Goeke et al. found that mood disorders were associated with the greatest decreases in health-related QoL, followed by stroke, psychotic disorders, and arthritis. Due to the relative prevalence of the various disorders, however, the greatest annual QoL losses were caused by arthritis, mood disorders, and personality disorders at a population level. The findings of Penner-Goeke et al. corroborate and extend earlier findings on individual personality disorders from other general population based studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)