Personality disorders in somatization disorder patients: a controlled study in Spain

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Somatization disorder (SD) is characterized by physical symptoms without a clear medical cause.
• Comorbidity with personality disorders (PDs) is frequently observed in psychiatric populations, but specific data for SD patients are less defined.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the prevalence of personality disorder comorbidity in patients diagnosed with somatization disorder.
• To compare PD comorbidity rates in SD patients against a control group of patients with mood and/or anxiety disorders.

Main Methods:

• A case-control study involving 70 somatization disorder patients and 70 matched psychiatric controls.
• Personality disorders were assessed using the International Personality Disorder Examination.
• Axis I psychiatric morbidity was evaluated with the Standardized Polyvalent Psychiatric Interview.

Main Results:

• A significantly higher rate of PD comorbidity was found in SD patients (62.9%) compared to controls (28.2%), with an odds ratio of 3.7.
• Paranoid PD (OR=9.2), obsessive-compulsive PD (OR=6.2), and histrionic PD (OR=3.6) showed the highest odds in SD patients compared to controls.

Conclusions:

• This study provides robust evidence for elevated PD comorbidity in somatization disorder patients.
• The findings underscore the importance of screening for personality disorders in individuals with somatization disorder.
• Prevalence rates for specific PD subtypes in SD differ from those in the general psychiatric population.