DSM-5 Personality Disorders and Traits in Patients With Severe Health Anxiety.

Severe health anxiety (SHA)/hypochondriasis (HY) is often associated with personality pathology; however, studies report inconsistent results. In general populations, 12% have a personality disorder (PD). We assessed physician-referred psychiatric outpatients with SHA enrolled for a treatment study (n = 84) with the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) axis II (SCID-II), Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5), Whiteley Index 7, and Short Health Anxiety Inventory, and the healthy controls (n = 84) with PID-5 only. There were 71.4% of the patients who met criteria for PDs: avoidant (22.6%), obsessive-compulsive (16.7%), depressive (16.7%), dependent (7.1%), paranoid (3.6%), borderline (2.4%), and not otherwise specified (32.1%). Severity of personality pathology was associated with severity of health anxiety. In group comparisons, PID-5 trait domains of negative affectivity, detachment, low antagonism, and low disinhibition, and facets of anxiousness, separation insecurity, and low attention seeking emerged as unique predictors of SHA. Personality pathology is common among individuals with SHA/HY. Further research is needed to understand the nature of the relationship between health anxiety and personality pathology and to determine whether treatments that target both SHA/HY and personality pathology will improve short- and long-term outcomes.

ICD-11 and DSM-5 personality trait domains capture categorical personality disorders: Finding a common ground.

OBJECTIVE: The five personality disorder trait domains in the proposed International Classification of Diseases, 11th edition and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition are comparable in terms of Negative Affectivity, Detachment, Antagonism/Dissociality and Disinhibition. However, the International Classification of Diseases, 11th edition model includes a separate domain of Anankastia, whereas the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition model includes an additional domain of Psychoticism. This study examined associations of International Classification of Diseases, 11th edition and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition trait domains, simultaneously, with categorical personality disorders. METHOD: Psychiatric outpatients ( N = 226) were administered the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Personality Disorders Interview and the Personality Inventory for DSM-5. International Classification of Diseases, 11th edition and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition trait domain scores were obtained using pertinent scoring algorithms for the Personality Inventory for DSM-5. Associations between categorical personality disorders and trait domains were examined using correlation and multiple regression analyses. RESULTS: Both the International Classification of Diseases, 11th edition and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition domain models showed relevant continuity with categorical personality disorders and captured a substantial amount of their information. As expected, the International Classification of Diseases, 11th edition model was superior in capturing obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, whereas the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition model was superior in capturing schizotypal personality disorder. CONCLUSION: These preliminary findings suggest that little information is 'lost' in a transition to trait domain models and potentially adds to narrowing the gap between Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition and the proposed International Classification of Diseases, 11th edition model. Accordingly, the International Classification of Diseases, 11th edition and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition domain models may be used to delineate one another as well as features of familiar categorical personality disorder types. A preliminary category-to-domain 'cross walk' is provided in the article.

Personality Pathology and Functional Impairment in Patients With Hypochondriasis.

BACKGROUND: Research indicates substantial co-occurance of personality pathology and hypochondriasis, which both involve significant psychosocial impairment. OBJECTIVE: This study sought to investigate the role of personality pathology for explaining functional impairment in patients with hypochondriasis, while accounting for the influence of health anxiety severity. METHODS: Patients diagnosed with hypochondriasis (N = 84; 60% women) were administered interview- and self-report instruments for personality pathology, health anxiety severity, and functional impairment (general, social, and physical): The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II (SCID-II), the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5), the Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI), the 36-item Short Form health survey (SF-36), and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF). Hierarchical regression analyses were performed with boot-strapping (1000 samples). RESULTS: Findings overall showed that personality pathology incrementally explained functional impairment over the influence of health anxiety severity. More specifically, findings revealed that the incremental effect of PID-5 trait dimensions was substantially larger than the SCID-II personality disorder criterion-count. Functional impairment was specifically associated with SCID-II symptoms of Avoidant Personality disorder and dependent personality disorder as well as PID-5 trait domains of negative affectivity, detachment, and psychoticism. CONCLUSIONS: The findings highlight the potential significance of personality pathology for understanding and clinical management of functional impairment in patients with hypochondriasis. The personality features that best explained functional impairment were avoidant personality disorder and dependent personality disorder and, in particular, DSM-5 and the International Classification of Diseases, 11th revision personality trait domains of negative affectivity, detachment, and psychoticism.

[Facts and myths about chronic fatigue syndrome].

Contrary to its precursor, the new NICE guidelines for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) caution against graded exercise therapy for the severely ill, and cognitive behavioural therapy is only recommended for treating consequence of ME/CFS and not the condition itself. Instead, energy management is recommended. The recommendations are based on dismissing most current evidence from studies not using new diagnostic criteria introduced by NICE or not including patient viewpoints. As argued in this review, instead of a scientific approach, the committee attaches importance to a consensus-driven approach among a biased group of specialists and patients; many associated to the ME action community.

Feasibility Study of Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Severe Health Anxiety.

Severe health anxiety (SHA) is prevalent, often undiagnosed, persistent untreated, and costly. Meta-analyses have shown effectiveness of mostly individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), whereas Group-CBT has only been studied and shown feasibility in one uncontrolled study of psychiatric outpatients also including self-referrals. We aimed to examine feasibility of Group-CBT for physician-referred psychiatric outpatients with SHA and a future randomized controlled trial (RCT). Group-CBT was conducted in two groups of seven participants. Feasibility was examined about recruitment rate, attrition, organization, and effectiveness. Effectiveness was measured by standardized self-report questionnaires: Whiteley Index-7 (WI-7) and Short Health Anxiety Inventory, and clinician rated remission and functioning from baseline to 3-month follow-up (3FU). Recruitment rate was 1.4 participant per month. Attrition showed dropout of 7%. Organization harbored only one senior therapist. Group-CBT showed effectiveness on all measures except WI-7 at 3FU; this latter explained by participants with concurrent borderline personality disorder. Group-CBT seems feasible for physician-referred psychiatric outpatients with SHA. With modifications, an RCT seems feasible.