Personality disorder and the Temperament and Character Inventory in the elderly

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of personality disorders in a group of elderly patients without an organic mental disorder and to examine the relationship between the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and personality disorder symptoms in psychogeriatric clinical practice.

A total of 91 subjects completed the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R personality questionnaire and the 125-item TCI.

Of the 91 subjects, 34 individuals (31%) had at least one DSM-III-R personality disorder diagnosis, with avoidant, dependent and paranoid personality disorder being the most common. The trends and correlations between the temperament and character dimensions and the correlations between individual personality disorder symptoms and the dimensions were similar to those in the original model. The most significant findings were the strong negative correlations of the character scores of self-directedness and co-operativeness with the total number of personality disorder symptoms, and the fact that the self-directedness scores predicted the number of personality disorder diagnoses.

The reported prevalence rate is comparable to studies of both younger and older patient populations using similar methodology. The TCI provides a useful framework for further research on personality disorders in the elderly.