Abstract
This study compared rates of DSM-III-R personality disorders between patients with dysthymia and episodic major depression in order to clarify the relationship between chronic depression, episodic forms of mood disorders, and personality pathology. Fifty-one percent of the dysthymics and 42% of the episodic depressives had a personality disorder diagnosis. The most common personality disorders in the dysthymia group were avoidant and NOS (not otherwise specified) disorders. The most common personality disorders in the episodic major depression group were borderline and NOS. These data suggest that dysthymics and episodic depressives have comparable overall rates of personality disorders but qualitatively differ from each other on the distribution of personality pathology. The high rates of anxious cluster diagnosis in the dysthymic group may reflect diagnostic overlap between dysthymia and Cluster C personality disorders.
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