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Personality disorder and psychological disturbance of female prisoners: A comparison with women referred for NHS treatment of personality disorder
Author(s) -
DOLAN BRIDGET,
MITCHELL HM ELAINE
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
criminal behaviour and mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1471-2857
pISSN - 0957-9664
DOI - 10.1002/cbm.1994.4.2.130
Subject(s) - irritability , psychology , personality , psychiatry , anxiety , clinical psychology , personality disorders , personality pathology , depression (economics) , borderline personality disorder , sadistic personality disorder , social psychology , economics , macroeconomics
This report presents a descriptive evaluation of personality disorder and psychological state in 50 female offenders admitted to the medical wing of HMP Holloway. Self‐report questionnaires were used to establish the prevalence of personality disorders according to DSM‐IIIR Axis II criteria, levels of borderline symptoms, self‐esteem, affective state and disordered eating attitudes. The results showed a high level of personality disorder pathology in the sample, with 76% of the women scoring in at least one category. Between one‐quarter and one‐half of the women scored in a clinical range on the measures of borderline symptomatology, anxiety, depression and irritability. Findings were compared with 100 women referred to Henderson Hospital, a specialist NHS non‐secure treatment unit for severe personality disorders, one‐third of whom had adult criminal convictions and 10% had been in prison. The latter sample showed a greater breadth of personality disorder pathology; considering just those women with any personality disorder, significantly more of the Henderson women met criteria for schizoid personality disorder and all of the four cluster C DSM‐IIIR personality disorder categories. However, more of the Holloway sample met criteria for antisocial personality disorder. The Holloway women appeared to be significantly less disturbed than the Henderson sample in terms of borderline symptomatology, self‐esteem, anxiety and irritability. The groups did not differ in levels of depression and disordered eating behaviours.