Personality disorders in patients with eating disorders in Japan

We assessed the prevalence of personality disorders (PD) using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Personality Disorders (SCID-II) in 36 patients with restricting anorexia nervosa, 30 patients with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, and 42 patients with bulimia nervosa. Of the 108 patients, 51% met the criteria for at least one PD. The patients with PD had more severe clinical features in terms of bulimic behaviors, concurrent depressive, anxious, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and psychopathology related to eating disorders compared to the patients without any PD. The patients with PD, especially borderline PD, also had more severe global functioning and greater numbers of suicidal attempts and hospital admissions. We compare these results with those reported in the Western world and discuss them cross-culturally.