ARE CURRENT SELF-REPORT AND INTERVIEW MEASURES ADEQUATE FOR EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDIES OF PERSONALITY-DISORDERS

The criterion employed iri answering the question posed in the title of this article is the status of currently available instruments relative to that of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS) at the time the Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) study was launched. At this time there are no interviews for the assessment of personality disorders designed for lay interviewers. There are legitimate concerns about the ability of nonclinicians to make such diagnoses. There are, however, several semistructured interviews for clinicians that have reliabilities comparable to well-established interviews for Axis I disorders. Inventories are not suitable for making personality disorder diagnoses, but they may have a potential for use as screening devices.