A Study on the Types and the Frequencies of Personality Disorders/Traits in the Patients with Somatoform Disorders

신체형 장애 환자에서 동반되는 인격 장애/성향의 유형 및 빈도에 대한 연구

This study was conducted to identify the relationships between personality disorders/traits and somatoform disorders. After the patients were screened through self-rated SCID-II Questionnaire(Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R, Questionnaire), the researcher got psychiatric history, performed clinician-rated SCID-P(Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R, Patient Edition), classified and diagnosed mental disorders with SCID-P, and evaluated SCID-II(Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R, Personality Disorders) by direct interview. The prevalencies of avoidant, obsessive-compulsive, schizotypal, narcissistic, paranoid, dependent, self-defeating, borderline personality disorders/traits in patients with somatoform disorders were diagnosed as 67.4%, 48.8%, 44.2%, 41.9%, 37.2%, 34.9%, 34.9%, 32.6%, respectively. The frequencies of self-defeating and schizotypal PD/traits were significantly higher than those of other neurotic control group. The results of this study could be regarded as replicating the results of previous studies that had reported most of all patients with somatoform disorder had presented with personality disorders/traits. This study, however, showed that the patients with somatoform disorders accompanied not with any specific types of personality disorders/traits but with various types of personality disorders/traits, which was much different from the previous usual clinical impressions. Thus, it is necessary for clinicians to approach the patients with somatoform disorders through more flexible and more supportive methods and attitude, in order that they should treat them more effectively.