DSM-III personality disorder in agoraphobia. II. changes with treatment

Thirty-three agoraphobia with panic patients completed the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire (a self-rating scale designed to assess the Axis II personality disorders from the DSM-III) before and after 16 weeks of combined pharmacological and behavioral treatment. The most consistent finding was the substantial reduction, compared with pretreatment values, on several personality variables, including the number of personality diagnoses assigned, the distribution of traits in the sample, and the number of items endorsed in each personality category; this finding suggests that symptomatic improvement in agoraphobic patients with treatment is accompanied by improvement in personality functioning. However, some personality traits (avoidant, histrionic) were found to be more enduring, whereas dependent traits were more reactive to treatment. Further, investigation of the relationship between personality and treatment outcome revealed that 75% of patients with low initial personality traits were responders compared with 25% of high personality traits, which suggests that personality factors may have prognostic significance in the treatment of panic disorder patients.