Treatment of comorbid anxiety disorders and personality disorders

For a long time the diagnosis of personality disorder was associated with therapeutic pessimism: People with these problems were viewed as untreatable, due to fundamental character complications. Failures of anxiety disorder treatment tended to be labeled as "personality disorder". There is little evidence that comorbid personality disorder negatively influences the outcome of treatments focusing on a primary anxiety disorder. The empirical studies on this issue are discussed in this chapter. The chapter argues that successful improvement in the area of anxiety disorders does not necessarily mean that in some cases there is no need for treatment of the personality disorder. It is generally agreed that there is no pharmacological treatment that leads to recovery from personality disorder, and that specialized psychological treatment is the treatment of choice for personality disorder. Psychological treatment focusing on personality disorders generally has a positive effect on anxiety problems.