PERSONALITY DISORDERS IN HYPOCHONDRIASIS: A COMPARISON TO PANIC DISORDER AND HEALTHY CONTROLS

Previous studies found high prevalence rates of personality disorders (PDs) in patients with hypochondriasis; however, assessment was often based only on questionnaires. In the current study, a sample of 68 patients with hypochondriasis was compared to 31 patients with panic disorder and to 94 healthy controls. Participants were investigated with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders questionnaire (SCID-II questionnaire) and the SCID-II interview. Based on the cut-off scores of the SCID-II questionnaire, we found a prevalence rate of 45.6% for PD in patients with hypochondriasis. In comparison to healthy controls, patients with hypochondriasis showed characteristics of paranoid, borderline, avoid ant, and-dependent PDs in the dimensional assessment significantly more often. However, no significant differences were found between the clinical samples. Based on the SCID-II interview, only 2.9% of the patients with hypochondriasis fulfilled the criteria for a PD. These results suggest that PDs are not a specific characteristic of hypochondriasis.