The validity and clinical utility of structured diagnoses of antisocial personality disorder with forensic patients.

Current DSM-based instruments for personality disorders (PDs) limit the investigation of the course and outcome of treatment of these disorders. This study examined the validity of the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure-200 (SWAP-200) and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II PD (SCID-II) in a sample of forensic PD patients. Results based on 66 participants indicated that the SWAP-200 Q-factors reduced the frequency of diagnostic comorbidity of PD categories by half compared with the SCID-II.

Using the SWAP-200 in a personality-disordered forensic population: is it valid, reliable and useful?

Background: Treatment and risk management of forensic patients relies heavily on diagnosing psychopathology, yet the reliability of clinical diagnoses of personality disorder has been found to be only fair to low. Structured instruments for the global assessment of personality disorder are infrequently used in clinical assessments possibly due to their limited validity and clinical utility.

Aims/methods: The Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure-200 (SWAP-200) was developed in an effort to address these limitations.