Using a semi-structured interview, 18 DSM-III borderline personality disorder (BPD) patients and 17 other (nonborderline) personality disorder (OPD) patients were compared blind 4 1/2 years after their index discharge. Although significantly younger and mostly single, BPD patients did not differ from OPD patients in the degree of overall psychopathology or in the level of psychosocial functioning and adjustment. They do not seem to represent a particularly severe personality disorder group. Those characteristics differentiating BPD patients from affective disorders and schizophrenia may be nonspecific regarding other personality disorder types. As such, more attention should be paid to cases of OPD in the future.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Is the diagnosis of hysterical psychosis justified?: Clinical study of hysterical psychosis, reactive/psychogenic psychosis, and schizophrenia.

Using the method of a "blind" retrospective evaluation of clinical charts, 21 female patients with hysterical psychosis were compared with 21 patients diagnosed as suffering from nonhysterical reactive/psychogenic psychosis and 42 patients diagnosed as schizophrenic according to the Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9). All three groups were restricted to first admissions and matched with regard to sex, age, and year of admission. Many significant differences were found between hysterical psychosis and schizophrenia; the only significant differences between hysterical and nonhysterical reactive/psychogenic psychosis were the presence of histrionic personality and the frequent shift in symptomatology in the former. Thus, both disorders seem to be identical.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Study on suicide in depressed inpatients.

Seventy-five depressed clinical suicides were compared with 50 depressed non-suicide clinical controls, using the method of stepwise logistic regression analysis. A set of the six best discriminating variables was identified, which comprised male sex, suicidal behavior at index admission and during index hospitalization, number of previous psychiatric hospitalizations, broken home and social exits. These factors should be taken into consideration when estimating suicidal danger in all types of depressed inpatients.

Depressive Disorder↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Dissociative experiences and dissociative disorders in acute psychiatric inpatients.

The study attempted to determine the extent of dissociative experiences and the prevalence of dissociative disorders (DDs) in a series of acute psychiatric inpatients and to correlate these experiences and disorders with some sociodemographic, clinical, and historical variables. A total of 207 consecutively admitted psychiatric inpatients qualified for the study. All were examined with the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Personality Questionnaire (SCID-II PQ), Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), and Frankfurter Self-Concept Scales (FS). Patients who scored greater than 20 on the DES were examined with the Dissociative Disorders interview Schedule (DDIS). Altogether, 20% of patients scored greater than 20 on the DES. In 5% of the patients, a DD was diagnosed. Significant positive correlations were found between DES scores and SCID-II PQ items' frequency with regard to all personality disorder types, especially borderline, antisocial, schizotypal, and dependent. Less pronounced correlations were found between DES and PBI scores, and between DES score and age. Clinical axis I diagnoses did not have any pronounced influence on the DES score. In contrast, patients with greater proneness to dissociation scored lower on most FS scales. There was a tendency for patients with DDs to report childhood abuse more frequently and they complained significantly more of somatic symptoms. Dissociative experiences seem to be as frequent in Swiss as in North American inpatients, whereas DDs (and childhood abuse) were encountered less frequently in Swiss inpatients. A correlation seems to exist between dissociation and somatization.

Acute Disease↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Psychotherapy of acute suicidality. "The anti-suicide promise" as a method of preventing suicide].

A trustful therapeutic relationship is considered to be the most important suicide-preventing measure. Furthermore, it has frequently been recommended to have the severely suicidal patient promise not to commit suicide within a certain period of time. Using three clinical examples the unreliability of this suicide-preventing method is demonstrated. When the patient can give such a promise responsibly, it probably is no longer necessary. Also, the patient's giving such a promise can negatively influence the development of the therapeutic relationship. A reciprocal contract should be preferred: the patient contacts the therapist whenever he feels to loose control over his suicidal potential whereas the therapist offers his availability to the patient.

Acute Disease↗