A 15–20 Year Follow-Up of Adult Psychiatric Patients

BACKGROUND An exploratory study was undertaken of the importance of personality disorder in predicting the long-term outcome for both episodic disorders and social functioning. METHOD In 1966-67, a representative series of patients with children, free of episodic illness for at least one year, was sampled from the Camberwell Psychiatric Register and systematically assessed over a four-year period, using measures of known reliability and validity. Psychiatric disorder was measured using a PSE-compatible instrument. The follow-up after 15-20 years used the PSE and a systematic assessment of social functioning. RESULTS Overall outcomes were similar across diagnoses, but an initial categorical diagnosis of personality disorder predicted much poorer outcomes on psychiatric and social measures for patients with unipolar depressive disorders than for those with other diagnoses. CONCLUSIONS The findings indicate the importance for prognosis of including a systematic assessment of personality disorder in the clinical assessment of patients with depressive disorder.

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