The relationship between DSM-III symptom disorders (Axis I) and personality disorders (Axis II) in an outpatient population.

The relationship between symptom disorder and personality disorder according to DSM-III was studied in 289 consecutive outpatients. It was observed that personality disorders occurred frequently among the chronic affective and anxiety disorders. The "dramatic" personality disorders were observed especially frequently among patients with cyclothymic disorder, and the "eccentric" personality disorders among patients with a diagnosis of dysthymic disorder, social phobia and agoraphobia. Dramatic personality disorder was also common among patients with simple phobia. As expected, a close correspondence was observed between social phobia, agoraphobia and avoidant personality disorder, between substance use disorder and borderline personality disorder, and between obsessive-compulsive disorder and compulsive personality disorder. Even if a relationship was observed, it was not strong enough to warrant a combination of chronic symptom disorder diagnoses and personality disorder diagnoses.