Comparison of alternative models for personality disorders, II: 6-, 8- and 10-year follow-up.

BACKGROUND: Several conceptual models have been considered for the assessment of personality pathology in DSM-5. This study sought to extend our previous findings to compare the long-term predictive validity of three such models: the five-factor model (FFM), the schedule for nonadaptive and adaptive personality (SNAP), and DSM-IV personality disorders (PDs). METHOD: An inception cohort from the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorder Study (CLPS) was followed for 10 years. Baseline data were used to predict long-term outcomes, including functioning, Axis I psychopathology, and medication use. RESULTS: Each model was significantly valid, predicting a host of important clinical outcomes. Lower-order elements of the FFM system were not more valid than higher-order factors, and DSM-IV diagnostic categories were less valid than dimensional symptom counts. Approaches that integrate normative traits and personality pathology proved to be most predictive, as the SNAP, a system that integrates normal and pathological traits, generally showed the largest validity coefficients overall, and the DSM-IV PD syndromes and FFM traits tended to provide substantial incremental information relative to one another. CONCLUSIONS: DSM-5 PD assessment should involve an integration of personality traits with characteristic features of PDs.

The association of personality disorders with the prospective 7-year course of anxiety disorders.

BACKGROUND: This study prospectively examined the natural clinical course of six anxiety disorders over 7 years of follow-up in individuals with personality disorders (PDs) and/or major depressive disorder. Rates of remission, relapse, new episode onset and chronicity of anxiety disorders were examined for specific associations with PDs. METHOD: Participants were 499 patients with anxiety disorders in the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study, who were assessed with structured interviews for psychiatric disorders at yearly intervals throughout 7 years of follow-up. These data were used to determine probabilities of changes in disorder status for social phobia (SP), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder and panic disorder with agoraphobia. RESULTS: Estimated remission rates for anxiety disorders in this study group ranged from 73% to 94%. For those patients who remitted from an anxiety disorder, relapse rates ranged from 34% to 67%. Rates for new episode onsets of anxiety disorders ranged from 3% to 17%. Specific PDs demonstrated associations with remission, relapse, new episode onsets and chronicity of anxiety disorders. Associations were identified between schizotypal PD with course of SP, PTSD and GAD; avoidant PD with course of SP and OCD; obsessive-compulsive PD with course of GAD, OCD, and agoraphobia; and borderline PD with course of OCD, GAD and panic with agoraphobia. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that specific PD diagnoses have negative prognostic significance for the course of anxiety disorders underscoring the importance of assessing and considering PD diagnoses in patients with anxiety disorders.

Personality traits as prospective predictors of suicide attempts.

OBJECTIVE: To examine higher order personality factors of negative affectivity (NA) and disinhibition (DIS), as well as lower order facets of impulsivity, as prospective predictors of suicide attempts in a predominantly personality disordered sample. METHOD: Data were analyzed from 701 participants of the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study with available follow-up data for up to 7 years. Cox proportional hazards regression analyses was used to examine NA and DIS, and facets of impulsivity (e.g. urgency, lack of perseverance, lack of premeditation and sensation seeking), as prospective predictors of suicide attempts. RESULTS: NA, DIS and all facets of impulsivity except for sensation seeking were significant in univariate analyses. In multivariate models which included sex, childhood sexual abuse, course of major depressive disorder and substance use disorders, only NA and lack of premeditation remained significant in predicting suicide attempts. DIS and the remaining impulsivity facets were not significant. CONCLUSION: NA emerged as a stronger and more robust predictor of suicide attempts than DIS and impulsivity, and warrants greater attention in suicide risk assessment. Distinguishing between facets of impulsivity is important for clinical risk assessment.

Patient's therapeutic skill acquisition and response to psychotherapy, alone or in combination with medication.

BACKGROUND: We tested the hypotheses that the addition of medication to psychotherapy enhances participation in the latter by: (1) speeding the acquisition of the psychotherapy's targeted skill; and (2) facilitating higher skill level acquisition. METHOD: Participants were 431 chronically depressed patients who received Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP), alone (N=214) or in combination with nefazodone (N=217), as part of a randomized chronic depression study (Keller et al. 2000). CBASP, developed specifically to treat chronic depression, uses a specific procedure, 'situational analysis' to help patients engage in more effective goal-oriented interpersonal behaviours. At the end of each session, therapists rated patients on their performance of situational analysis. Outcome on depressive symptoms was assessed with the 24-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. RESULTS: Although reductions in depression were significantly greater in combined treatment compared to CBASP alone, there were no between-group differences in either the rate of skill acquisition or overall skill level at the end of treatment. Proficiency in the use of the main skill taught in psychotherapy at treatment midpoint predicted outcome independently of medication status and of baseline depressive severity. CONCLUSIONS: Effective participation in CBASP, as reflected by proficiency in the compensatory skill taught in psychotherapy, is not enhanced by the addition of medication and does not mediate the between-group difference in depression outcome.

Maintenance desipramine for dysthymia: a placebo-controlled study.

BACKGROUND: This study examines the efficacy of maintenance pharmacotherapy in dysthymia without concurrent major depression, i.e. 'pure dysthymia'. No published data exist on this topic. METHODS: Responders to a 10-week open trial of desipramine (DMI) whose therapeutic response persisted during a 4-month continuation phase were eligible to begin a 2-year placebo-controlled maintenance phase. We analyzed the subgroup with DSM-III-R pure dysthymia (n=27) that entered maintenance. Time to recurrence during maintenance therapy was compared between the two treatment groups. RESULTS: Six of 13 patients receiving placebo and none of 14 patients receiving ongoing DMI experienced a recurrence. Risk of recurrence was significantly greater for placebo patients. Five of six placebo recurrences occurred within the first 6 months of maintenance. LIMITATIONS: Larger replication studies are needed. CONCLUSION: Desipramine was efficacious as a maintenance treatment in patients with pure dysthymia who responded to 7 months of acute and continuation DMI.

An exploratory study of ethnicity and psychotherapy outcome among HIV-positive patients with depressive symptoms.

Few data address the relationship between ethnic status and psychotherapy outcome. This study reports data from a four-cell, 16-week controlled clinical trial for HIV-positive patients with depressive symptoms. Patients (N = 101) were randomized to 16 weeks of treatment with interpersonal psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), supportive psychotherapy, or imipramine plus supportive psychotherapy. Analyses found an ethnicity-by-treatment interaction wherein African-American subjects (n = 18) assigned to CBT (n = 4) had significantly poorer outcomes than other patients. This is the first study to uncover an ethnicity-by-specific psychotherapy interaction. Its meaning is unclear. This charged topic requires cautious treatment, particularly given the small sample size in this study, but warrants further research.

Rater agreement on interpersonal psychotherapy problem areas.

There has been much outcome research on interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) but little investigation of its components. This study assessed interrater reliability of IPT therapists in identifying interpersonal problem areas and treatment foci from audiotapes of initial treatment sessions. Three IPT research psychotherapists assessed up to 18 audiotapes of dysthymic patients, using the Interpersonal Problem Area Rating Scale. Cohen's kappa was used to examine concordance between raters. Kappas for presence or absence of each of the four IPT problem areas were 0.87 (grief), 0.58 (role dispute), 1.0 (role transition), and 0.48 (interpersonal deficits). Kappa for agreement on a clinical focus was 0.82. IPT therapists agreed closely in rating problem areas and potential treatment foci, providing empirical support for potential therapist consistency in this treatment approach.

Psychotherapy adherence of therapists treating HIV-positive patients with depressive symptoms.

Adherence monitoring, a technology to specify research psychotherapies, was used in the NIMH Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program (TDCRP). The authors present adherence data from a similar randomized treatment trial of 56 depressed HIV-positive patients, comparing 16-week interventions with cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, and supportive psychotherapy alone or with imipramine. Therapists were certified in manualized treatments. Blind independent raters rated randomly selected taped sessions on an adaptation of the NIMH scale, yielding adherence scores for interventions and for therapist "facilitative conditions" (FC). All therapists were rated adherent. Interrater reliability was 0.89-0.99. The scale discriminated among the four treatments (P<0.0001), with each scoring highest on its own scale. FC, which might measure therapist competence independent of treatment technique, varied by intervention but did not predict treatment outcome. This study demonstrates the ability to reliably train adherence monitors and therapists able to deliver specified treatments. Its adherence findings provide the first replication of those from the landmark NIMH TDCRP study.

A comparison of nefazodone, the cognitive behavioral-analysis system of psychotherapy, and their combination for the treatment of chronic depression.

BACKGROUND: Patients with chronic forms of major depression are difficult to treat, and the relative efficacy of medications and psychotherapy is uncertain. METHODS: We randomly assigned 681 adults with a chronic nonpsychotic major depressive disorder to 12 weeks of outpatient treatment with nefazodone (maximal dose, 600 mg per day), the cognitive behavioral-analysis system of psychotherapy (16 to 20 sessions), or both. At base line, all patients had scores of at least 20 on the 24-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (indicating clinically significant depression). Remission was defined as a score of 8 or less at weeks 10 and 12. For patients who did not have remission, a satisfactory response was defined as a reduction in the score by at least 50 percent from base line and a score of 15 or less. Raters were unaware of the patients' treatment assignments. RESULTS: Of the 681 patients, 662 attended at least one treatment session and were included in the analysis of response. The overall rate of response (both remission and satisfactory response) was 48 percent in both the nefazodone group and in the psychotherapy group, as compared with 73 percent in the combined-treatment group. (P<0.001 for both comparisons). Among the 519 subjects who completed the study, the rates of response were 55 percent in the nefazodone group and 52 percent in the psychotherapy group, as compared with 85 percent in the combined-treatment group (P<0.001 for both comparisons). The rates of withdrawal were similar in the three groups. Adverse events in the nefazodone group were consistent with the known side effects of the drug (e.g., headache, somnolence, dry mouth, nausea, and dizziness). CONCLUSIONS: Although about half of patients with chronic forms of major depression have a response to short-term treatment with either nefazodone or a cognitive behavioral-analysis system of psychotherapy, the combination of the two is significantly more efficacious than either treatment alone.

Open trial of interpersonal psychotherapy for the treatment of social phobia.

OBJECTIVE: Interpersonal psychotherapy is a time-limited treatment initially developed to treat depression. It has not been studied for the treatment of anxiety disorders. METHOD: Interpersonal psychotherapy was modified and tested in a 14-week, open trial of nine patients with DSM-IV social phobia. RESULTS: At termination, seven (78%) were independently rated as much or very much improved on overall social phobia symptoms. Nearly all clinician ratings and self-ratings of social phobia symptoms significantly improved. Changes approximated those of established treatments for social phobia. CONCLUSIONS: Interpersonal psychotherapy may have efficacy for the treatment of social phobia. Further study in a comparison trial is warranted.

Developments in interpersonal psychotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), a time-limited psychotherapy, was developed in the 1970s as a treatment for outpatient adults with major depression. It since has grown in its range of research applications and in its clinical accessibility. METHOD: Review of recent research and educational developments on IPT. RESULTS: IPT has demonstrated efficacy in randomized controlled trials for major depression in various patient populations and in patients with bulimia. It showed no advantages in treating 2 substance abuse samples. Numerous further studies are underway. Growing numbers of clinicians are learning IPT. CONCLUSIONS: At a time when both research developments and economic pressures are increasing interest in time-limited psychotherapies, IPT is expanding in both the research and clinical domains.

Six months of desipramine for dysthymia: can dysthymic patients achieve normal social functioning?

BACKGROUND: There is evidence that antidepressant medication improves social dysfunction during acute treatment in dysthymic patients but it is unknown if the gain in social functioning persists or progresses with longer-term antidepressant treatment. We examine the effect of 6 months of desipramine treatment on social functioning in dysthymic patients. METHODS: Forty-six subjects with DSM-III-R dysthymia (70% with superimposed major depression) who had responded to 10 weeks of open-label desipramine (DMI) treatment received 16 additional weeks of continuation DMI. Social functioning was measured at weeks 0, 10 and 26 with the Social Adjustment Scale-Self Report. RESULTS: Euthymia was maintained and a marginally significant trend for further improvement in overall social functioning appeared during continuation treatment. Only 24% of subjects achieved normative level of social adjustment after 6 months of DMI treatment. LIMITATIONS: The main limitation was the lack of a placebo control group. CONCLUSION: Acute improvement in social functioning persists during continuation treatment. However, most dysthymic patients did not achieve a community level of social adjustment. Significant social dysfunction persists in dysthymic patients with low levels of depressive symptomatology after 6 months of intense DMI treatment.

Early- versus late-onset dythymic disorder: comparison in out-patients with superimposed major depressive episodes.

BACKGROUND: This study examined the validity of the early-late onset subtyping distinction in dysthymic disorder. METHODS: Participants were 340 out-patients meeting DSM-III-R criteria for dysthymia and a concurrent major depressive episode (MDE). The sample was drawn from a 12-site double-blind randomized parallel group trial comparing the efficacy of sertraline and imipramine in the treatment of chronic depression. All patients received comprehensive evaluations using semi-structured interviews and rating scales. RESULTS: 73% of the sample met criteria for the early-onset, and 27% for the late-onset, subtype. The early-onset patients had a significantly longer index MDE, significantly higher rates of personality disorders and lifetime substance use disorders, and a significantly greater proportion had a family history of mood disorder. The subgroups did not differ in symptom severity or functional impairment at baseline, nor in response to a 12-week trial of antidepressants. LIMITATIONS: Further work is needed to extend these findings to dysthymic disorder without superimposed MDEs. CONCLUSIONS: These results support the distinction between early-onset and late-onset dysthymic disorder.