Impact of a Personality Disorder in Management of Comorbid Disorder
Donald W. Black, MD, University of Iowa
Personality disorder (PD) indicates patterns of long-term functioning and are not limited to episodes of illness. Abnormal personality traits are common among the general population, but are not considered a personality disorder unless they are inflexible, maladaptive, persisting, and cause distress either for the patient or the family. There are few cases of “pure” PDs without a comorbid psychiatric disorder. Personality disorders are not as stable as once understood; they wax and wane in response to stressors or depressed mood or anxiety. When a PD is comorbid with another disorder, patients are less likely to respond to medication and to experience remission from the comorbid psychiatric disorder.