The International Personality Disorder Examination Questionnaire (IPDEQ): Preliminary data on its utility as a screener for anxious personality disorder

The present study assessed the utility of the International Personality Disorder Examination Questionnaire (IPDEQ) as a screenerfor ICD-W personality disorders in a sample of 76 subjects attending treatment for an anxiety disorder. The performance of the IPDEQ at different cut-off points was compared to IPDE diagnoses of personality disorder using receiver operating characteristic analysis. As the majority of positive diagnoses were of ICD-IO anxious (DSM-/V awidant) personality disorder the six IPDEQ items relating to anxious personality disorder were analysed. Sensitivities were very high and specificities were moderate indicating that the IPDEQ items relating to anxious personality disorder are good at discriminating between those with and those without anxious personality disorder. Furthermore, a cut-off point of four or more anxious personality disorder items yielded the highest specificity given maximum sensitivity, a condition necessary for a screening instrument to be effective. Thus, at a cut-off point of four or more screening items the IPDEQ appears to be a valid screening instrument for the detection of anxious personality disorder. The limitations of the study, including the generalizability of the results to other personality disorders and/or other samples, are discussed.