Analyzing correlations between personality disorders and frontal functions: A pilot study

This paper reports the results of an open cross-sectional study in which socio-demographic, clinical, psychopathological and neuropsychological features of outpatients—who consecutively enter for treatments in a private service of psychiatry and psychotherapy—are examined. The involved participants (63 subjects, 24 males and 39 females aged from 18 to 66, mean age 34 years) were assessed for personality disorders (PDs) by administering the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnosis of axis II disorders (SCID-II) and for frontal lobe hypo-functioning activities by administering the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB). 21 subjects reached a FAB total score less than 13.5, indicating the presence of frontal function deficits. 21 subjects had a diagnosis of Personality Disorder (PD). The remaining 42 subjects did not meet sufficient criteria for any diagnosis of PD even though they showed one or more typical PD symptoms. It was found that the PD syndromic diagnosis did not significantly correlate with frontal functions deficits, while some PD symptoms (such as abnormal behavior, emotional experiences and pathological cognitive processes) correlated negatively with the FAB total scores and therefore with a frontal lobe hypo-functioning. These significant negative correlations suggest that PD symptoms have more ecological value than the DSM V diagnostic categories confirming their artificial nature and uselessness for clinical practices.