0887-6185192 $5.00 + .OO czqyright 8 1992 Papmm Press Ild. Prevalence of SCID-Diagnosed Personality Disorders in Agoraphobic Outpatients zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYX BABETTE RENNEBERG, DPL-PSYCX zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcb Agoraphobia and Anxiety Treatment Center and Temple University M edical School DIANNE L. CHAMBLESS, PH.D. The American University EDWARD J. GRACELY, PH.D. Department of Preventive M edicine, M edical College of Pennsy lvania Abstract - The prevalence of DSM-III-R Axis II personality disorders (PDs) and comorbidity of Axis I and Axis II disorders was examined in a sample of 133 agora- phobic outpatients. Diagnoses were assigned according to the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID). Fifty-six percent of the sample had at least one PD. Diagnoses of the anxious cluster (44% of ag clients) were most prevalent. Avoidant personality disorder was the single most frequent Axis II diagnosis (32% of the sam- ple). Presence of a PD was not related to severity or duration of agoraphobic avoid- ance or frequency of panic attacks. Subjects with a PD were more frequently assigned secondary diagnoses of dysthymia, social phobia, and simple phobia than those with- out an Axis II disorder. Patients with any PD. those with an anxious zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfed c luste r d ia g no sis, and those with a PD diagnosis of the dramatic cluster also showed significantly higher scores on self-reported depression and social fear compared to patients with no PD diagnosis. The data suggest that persistent personality pathology seems to go hand in hand with a chronic form of depression, as well as social anxiety, and that DSM-III-R Axis I and Axis II disorders tend to co-occur. This research was supported in part by a fellowship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) award4 to the fmt author. The authors wish to thank Thomas Fydrich for his valuable comments, and Peggy Gaver and Deborah Dowdau for dleii assistance in data cokction. Requests for reprints should be sent to Dianne L. Chambless, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, The American University, Washington, DC 2001643062. 111