Personality, functioning and symptomatology

A random sample of 200 people selected from urban and rural communities was assessed using structured interview schedules to measure the prevalence of personality disorder and psychiatric illness and their relation to social functioning. Explosive personality disorder was the most prevalent type of abnormal personality. Social functioning was significantly worse in those with personality disorder than those with normal personality but there was no difference between the various diagnostic categories of abnormal personality. Social functioning differed between some PSE diagnostic categories. An assessment was made of the variables contributing to mean social functioning score, of the interactions between them, and of the correlation between social functioning symptomatology.