Am J Psychiatry 1995; 152:551-554
Copyright © 1995 by American Psychiatric Association
Axis I psychiatric symptoms associated with HIV infection and personality disorder
JG Johnson, JB Williams, JG Rabkin, RR Goetz and RH Remien
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York.
OBJECTIVE: The prevalences of personality disorders among HIV-positive and
HIV-negative homosexual men were compared, and the presence of personality
disorders was related to axis I psychiatric disorders, psychiatric
distress, and impaired functioning. METHOD: The subjects were 162
homosexual men who either were HIV seronegative (N = 52) or were
seropositive and had absent to moderate physical symptoms (N = 110).
Lifetime and current histories of DSM-III-R axis I disorders, current
diagnoses of DSM-III-R personality disorders, and levels of anxiety,
depression, hopelessness, and adaptive functioning were assessed. RESULTS:
In both the seropositive and seronegative groups, 19% of the study
participants were diagnosed with personality disorders. The seropositive
participants with personality disorders reported higher levels of
psychiatric symptoms and poorer functioning than all participants without
personality disorders, and they were over six times as likely as the
seronegative participants without personality disorders to have current
axis I disorders. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that HIV infection
and personality disorders may interactively increase the likelihood of
clinically significant psychiatric symptoms.
