DSM-III and structural diagnosis of borderline patients

This study compared diagnoses arrived at through a structural interview developed by Kernberg which assesses levels of personality organization with those arrived at using DSM-III criteria of signs and symptoms among a group of hospitalized patients. Complete agreement was reached in 61 percent of the cases. Among the cases in which there was disagreement, 39 percent could nevertheless be considered to be compatible within the two systems, while the remaining cases were not. Discussion is directed to the different facets of clinical material addressed with each of these two diagnostic approaches, their discrepancies, and the underlying relationship between the two systems.