This study compared serotonergic function, as assessed by prolactin
response to fenfluramine, in males with compulsive personality disorder,
males with noncompulsive personality disorders, and normal control
subjects. The two patient groups did not differ in age, depression status,
suicide history, or comorbid borderline personality disorder. However,
compulsive personality disorder patients had significantly greater
impulsive aggressive scores than the noncompulsive patients and
significantly blunted prolactin responses compared with the non-compulsive
patients and normal control subjects. In the combined patient group, total
compulsive personality disorder traits correlated positively with impulsive
aggression score and inversely with prolactin response. These results
support the hypothesis that impulsive and compulsive symptoms do not simply
lie at opposite ends of a phenomenological and neurobiological spectrum,
but rather have a complex intersection and may both correlate with
serotonergic dysfunction.Abstract Teaser