An integrative dimensional classification of personality disorder.

Full Abstract

Psychological assessment research concerns how to describe psychological dysfunction in ways that are both valid and useful. Recent advances in assessment research hold the promise of facilitating significant improvements in description and diagnosis. One such contribution is in the classification of personality disorder symptomatology. The American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual considers personality disorders to be categorically distinct entities. However, research assessing personality disorders has consistently supported a dimensional perspective. Recognition of the many limitations of categorical models of personality disorder classification has led to the development of a variety of alternative proposals, which further research has indicated can be integrated within a common hierarchical structure. This article offers an alternative integrated dimensional model of normal and abnormal personality structure, and it illustrates how such a model could be used clinically to describe patients' normal adaptive personality traits as well as their maladaptive personality traits that could provide the basis for future assessments of personality disorder. The empirical support, feasibility, and clinical utility of the proposal are discussed. Points of ambiguity and dispute are highlighted, and suggestions for future research are provided. Copyright 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Author information

Author/s: Widiger, Thomas A (TA); Livesley, W John (WJ); Clark, Lee Anna (LA);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. widiger(-atsign-)uky.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Review

Journal: Psychological assessment (Psychol Assess), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Sep; vol 21 (issue 3) : pp 243-55

Dates: Created 2009/09/01; Completed 2009/11/03;

PMID: 19719338, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/3/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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