Use and abuse of self-reports in the assessment of personality disorders

Abstract

In this paper an analysis of the observed discrepancies in studies about the comorbidity between mental disorders of Axis I and personality disorders was carried out. Research shows a wide range of the comor-bidity rates, with variations in function of the kind of assessment tool used. The studies that use self-reports show significantly higher rates of personality disorders than the ones using clinical interviews. Therefore, self-reports have a tendency to over-diagnose personality disorders. However, clinical inter-views are stricter and more conservative and so the prevalence rates are lower, even with significant dif-ferences when both types of assessment tools are used with the same clinical sample. These data are illustrated with specific studies carried out in some clinical disorders: alcoholism, pathological gambling, cocaine dependence and eating disorders. Lastly, implications of this study for clinical practice and future research are commented upon.