L Ekselius, M Eriksson, L von Knorring, J Linder
Department of Psychiatry, Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden.
DOI: 10.2340/165019771997299196

The comorbidity between major depression and personality disorders in patients with long-standing work disability at a rehabilitation clinic was investigated. Sixty patients with a somatoform pain disorder and 66 patients with different medical illnesses were assessed by means of a self rating scale for major depression, and the SCID screen personality disorder questionnaire. In the total series, 27% of the patients had a diagnosis of major depression and 34. 9% had at least one personality disorder. Personality disorders were significantly more common in patients with medical illness than in patients with a somatoform pain disorder. There was a high frequency of comorbidity between major depression and personality disorders, especially borderline and avoidant personality disorders. If this is due to a common pathogenetic mechanism, it could explain why SSRIs are effective in both depression and some personality disorders.