Inter-rater agreement of comorbid DSM-IV personality disorders in substance abusers

Morten Hesse^* and Birgitte Thylstrup^*

Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, University of Aarhus, Købmagergade 26E, 1150 Copenhagen C, Denmark

author email corresponding author email* Contributed equally

BMC Psychiatry 2008, 8:37doi:10.1186/1471-244X-8-37


Published:	17 May 2008

Abstract

Background

Little is known about the inter-rater agreement of personality disorders in clinical settings.

Methods

Clinicians rated 75 patients with substance use disorders on the DSM-IV criteria of personality disorders in random order, and on rating scales representing the severity of each.

Results

Convergent validity agreement was moderate (range for r = 0.55, 0.67) for cluster B disorders rated with DSM-IV criteria, and discriminant validity was moderate for eight of the ten personality disorders. Convergent validity of the rating scales was only moderate for antisocial and narcissistic personality disorder.

Discussion

Dimensional ratings may be used in research studies and clinical practice with some caution, and may be collected as one of several sources of information to describe the personality of a patient.