[Clinical and psychological characteristics of patients with personality disorders complicated by alcohol dependence].

The goal of the current study was to compare the course of relapse of alcohol dependence in patients with and without personality disorders. We studied 68 patients with alcohol dependence in the stage of decompensation and comorbid personality disorder, and 43 patients with lucid alcohol dependence. The patients were studied using a clinical examination and a battery of psychological tests. The group of patients with alcohol dependence and personality disorder was found to have better prognosis than the group with lucid alcoholism, with the exception of patients with histrionic personality disorder who had the lower self-esteem, primitive psychological defense mechanisms, lack of insight, poor social functioning, low stress tolerance, and a dysphoric variant of affective disorders.