Temporal Coherence of Criteria for Four Personality Disorders

This study sought to investigate the coherence of changes observed in diagnostic criteria for borderline, schizotypal, obsessive-compulsive, and avoidant personality disorders. Five hundred, forty-nine patients were independently evaluated 2 years apart, and correlations of observed changes in each diagnostic criterion with changes in other criteria were examined to determine if there was withinsyndrome consistency in these changes. The observed changes in criteria were consistent within syndrome (median α=0.72 across 4 disorders), and reasonably specific to that syndrome relative to the other disorders. The results support the validity of these criterion sets as representing coherent syndromes.