Personality disorders in bipolar and depressive disorders

The association of mood disorders with personality disorders (PDs) is relevant from a clinical, therapeutic and prognostic point of view. To examine this issue, we compared the prevalence of DSM-III-R personality disorders assessed with SCID-II in patients with depressive (n = 117) and bipolar (n = 71) disorders both recovered from a major depressive index episode that needed hospital admission. PDs prevalence and comorbidity with axis I were calculated. Avoidant PD (31.6%) (O.R. = 1.7, C.I. = 1.06-2.9. P < 0.01), borderline PD (30.8%) and obsessive-compulsive PD (30.8%) were the most prevalent axis II diagnoses among patients with depressive disorder. In bipolar disorder group, patients showed more frequently obsessive-compulsive PD (32.4%), followed by borderline PD (29.6%) and avoidant PD (19.7%). Avoidant PD showed a trend toward being significantly more prevalent among depressives (P < 0.07). A different pattern of PDs emerges between depressive and bipolar patients.