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Personality Pathology (personality + pathology)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Psychology	68%
Medical Sciences	26%

Distribution within Psychology

Clinical Psychology	76%
Personality & Individual Differences	14%

Selected Abstracts

An Empirically Based Classification of Personality Pathology: Where We Are Now and Where Do We Go

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: SCIENCE AND PRACTICE, Issue 2 2007
Thomas A. Widiger
The review of Sheets and Craighead (2007) affirms the lack of discriminant validity of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders personality disorders, focusing in particular on the three clusters. They call for an empirically based, dimensional classification of personality disorder. Quite a bit of progress toward such an approach has occurred. This commentary emphasizes in particular the importance of having a dimensional model of personality disorder be integrated with general personality structure. [source]

From Surface to Depth: Diagnosis and Assessment in Personality Pathology

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: SCIENCE AND PRACTICE, Issue 2 2007
Robert F. Bornstein
As Sheets and Craighead (2007) note, the current organization of personality disorders (PDs) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is limited by excessive comorbidity among different forms of personality pathology and by co-occurrence of symptoms from ostensibly unrelated PDs. In this commentary, I offer an alternative solution to the syndrome- and symptom-level problems that characterize our current organization of PDs. This solution involves (a) formally conceptualizing each DSM PD using multiple theoretical frameworks, and (b) using psychological assessment data to obtain information relevant to key elements of these theoretical frameworks. Guidelines for multimodal assessment of PDs are offered, and suggestions for integrating diagnostic information and psychological test data are described. [source]

Personality pathology, depression and HPA axis functioning

HUMAN PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY: CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL, Issue 4 2001
I. Schweitzer
Abstract Hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis functioning, as measured by the dexamethasone suppression test (DST), has been extensively investigated in major depressive disorder (MDD). Evaluating DST response in MDD patients while simultaneously considering clinically relevant personality disorders may further clarify the contribution of both personality pathology and HPA axis function to depressive symptoms. The present study measured personality pathology by administering the revised version of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-II) in a sample of 25 patients diagnosed with MDD. Analyses revealed that suppressors (n,=,19) scored significantly higher than non-suppressors (n,=,6) on six of the 13 MCMI-II personality disorder scales: Avoidant, Schizoid, Self-Defeating, Passive-Aggressive, Schizotypal and Borderline. Increased personality pathology was associated with normal suppression of cortisol following the DST. This suggests that suppression of the DST may be associated with depressive states linked with personality pathology while the more biologically based depression is associated with abnormal HPA pathophysiology. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Personality pathology and substance abuse in eating disorders: A longitudinal study

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EATING DISORDERS, Issue 3 2008
Heather Thompson-Brenner PhD
Abstract Objective: Substance abuse has been shown to predict poor outcome in eating disorder (ED) samples, and prior cross-sectional data on personality subtypes of EDs suggest that substance abuse is associated with dysregulated and possibly avoidant-insecure subtypes. This study investigates longitudinal associations between personality and substance use. Method: Personality pathology and substance use were assessed in 213 individuals with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa at baseline; substance use was assessed at regular follow-up intervals over a 9-year period. Results: Of the five personality factors identified, the obsessional-sensitive and high-functioning types were negatively associated with substance abuse at baseline, while the behaviorally dysregulated type was positively associated with substance abuse at baseline. Longitudinal associations were observed, suggesting that obsessional-sensitive personality type was protective against the development of substance abuse. Longitudinal associations between the other personality types and substance abuse were nonsignificant after baseline substance abuse history was included as a covariate in the model. Conclusion: Substance use demonstrates cross-sectional associations with personality style, but substance abuse history appears to be the most important predictor of future substance abuse in women with eating disorders. © 2007 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 2008 [source]

What imaging tells us about violence in anti-social men

CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 3 2010
Mairead C. DolanArticle first published online: 8 JUN 2010
This paper provides an overview of imaging studies in samples of men with personality disorder (PD) who have been violent. Mention is also made of the work of two groups that have looked at the neural correlates of violence across diagnostic categories, including schizophrenia and anti-social PD given their relevance in the field. The paper focuses on the notion that aggressive behaviour can be conceptualised in terms of at least two types, reactive and pro-active, and that few studies separate them. The neuro-anatomical basis of aggression and associated neurobehavioural theories are discussed in relation to clinical disorders (mainly anti-social personality pathology) associated with these different types of aggressive behaviour. Structural (computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging) and functional (positron emission tomography, fMRI, single-photon emission tomography) studies with violent people variously characterised as anti-social or having psychopathy will be critically reviewed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Eating disturbance and severe personality disorder: outcome of specialist treatment for severe personality disorder

EUROPEAN EATING DISORDERS REVIEW, Issue 2 2006
Fiona Warren
Abstract Objective To assess the outcome for patients receiving specialist democratic therapeutic community treatment for personality disorder (PD) when they also have eating disturbance. Method Prospective, naturalistic study. Personality psychopathology and disturbed eating attitudes of 135 male and female referrals to tertiary treatment for PD were assessed at referral. Seventy-five referrals were admitted for treatment and 60 were not. Participants were reassessed at 1-year follow-up. Results There was a significant effect of treatment on dieting but not other aspects of eating disturbance. However, patients with eating disturbance were not more likely than those without to terminate treatment early or to have poorer outcome in terms of their personality pathology. Severity of baseline personality pathology did not predict treatment response. Conclusion Clients with comorbidity should be considered for treatment of the personality disorder prior to treatment for the eating disorder. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. [source]

A step toward DSM-V: cataloguing personality-related problems in living,

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 4 2005
Robert R. McCrae
Intractable problems with DSM-IV's Axis II mandate an entirely new approach to the diagnosis of personality-related pathology. The Five-Factor Model of personality provides a scientifically grounded basis for personality assessment, and Five-Factor Theory postulates that personality pathology is to be found in characteristic maladaptations that are shaped by both traits and environment. A four-step process of personality disorder (PD) diagnosis is proposed, in which clinicians assess personality, problems in living, clinical severity, and, optionally, PD patterns. We examine item content in five problem checklists to update the list of personality-related problems used in Step 2 of the four-step process. Problems were reliably assigned to relevant factors and facets, and a number of additions were made to an earlier catalogue. The four-step process can be used by clinicians, and may be incorporated in a future DSM. This article is a U.S. government publication and is in the public domain in the United States. [source]

Personality pathology, depression and HPA axis functioning

The development of psychopathology from infancy to adulthood: The mysterious unfolding of disturbance in time

INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 3 2003
Peter Fonagy
A model for the development of this mechanism is offered as well as evidence for it from five areas: (1) the nature of the association of early attachment and later cognitive functioning, (2) accumulating evidence for the association between secure attachment and the facility with which internal states are understood and represented, (3) the limited predictive value of early attachment classification, (4) the studies of the biological functions of attachment in other mammalian species, and (5) factor analytic studies of adult attachment scales that suggest the independence of attachment type and attachment quality. The author tentatively proposes that attachment in infancy has the primary evolutionary function of generating a mind capable of inferring and attributing causal motivational and epistemic mind states, and through these arriving at a representation of the self in terms of a set of stable and generalized intentional attributes thus ensuring social collaboration, whereas attachment in adulthood serves the evolutionary function of protecting the self representation from the impingements that social encounters inevitably create. Severe personality pathology arises when the psychological mechanism of attachment is distorted or dysfunctional and cannot fulfill its biological function of preserving the intactness of self representations. ©2003 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health. [source]

Dimensions of Normal and Abnormal Personality: Elucidating DSM-IV Personality Disorder Symptoms in Adolescents

JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 3 2010
Noor B. Tromp
ABSTRACT The present study aimed to elucidate dimensions of normal and abnormal personality underlying DSM-IV personality disorder (PD) symptoms in 168 adolescents referred to mental health services. Dimensions derived from the Big Five of normal personality and from Livesley's (2006) conceptualization of personality pathology were regressed on interview-based DSM-IV PD symptom counts. When examined independently, both models demonstrated significant levels of predictive power at the higher order level. However, when added to the higher order Big Five dimensions, Livesley's higher and lower order dimensions afforded a supplementary contribution to the understanding of dysfunctional characteristics of adolescent PDs. In addition, they contributed to a better differentiation between adolescent PDs. The present findings suggest that adolescent PDs are more than extreme, maladaptive variants of higher order normal personality traits. Adolescent PDs seem to encompass characteristics that may be more completely covered by dimensions of abnormal personality. Developmental issues and implications of the findings are discussed. [source]

A cross-national validity study of the Severity Indices of Personality Problems (SIPP-118)

PERSONALITY AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 1 2009
Espen Arnevik
Objective,The objective in this study was to test the validity of a new dimensional measure of maladaptive core pathology for personality disorders (PDs), the Severity Indices of Personality Problems (SIPP-118), by comparing a Norwegian sample of 114 patients with PDs with two Dutch samples. In addition, Avoidant PD and Borderline PD were compared, and the relationship between scores on the SIPP-118 and commonly used clinical measures were investigated. Results,The results showed good psychometric properties of the SIPP-118 at the facet level. The Norwegian PD sample had scores equal to the Dutch PD sample and significantly below the general population sample. Correlation with other clinical measures was in the low to moderate range. Conclusion,The cross-national validity of the SIPP-118 was good, and the instrument seems promising as a dimensional instrument for measuring personality pathology. Further research should be undertaken to establish the structure of higher-order domains, its use as a measure of therapeutic change, and its capacity to distinguish Axis II from Axis I pathology. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Emotional processing in male adolescents with childhood-onset conduct disorder

THE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 7 2008
Sabine C. Herpertz
Background:, Boys with early onset of conduct disorder (CD), most of whom also meet diagnostic criteria of a comorbid attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), tend to exhibit high levels of aggression throughout development. While a number of functional neuroimaging studies on emotional processing have been performed in antisocial adults, little is known about how CD children process emotional information. Method:, Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were analyzed in 22 male adolescents aged 12 to 17 years with childhood-onset CD (16 of them with comorbid ADHD) compared to 22 age-matched male healthy controls. In order to consider the likely confounding of results through ADHD comorbidity, we performed a supplementary study including 13 adolescent subjects with pure ADHD who were compared with healthy controls. To challenge emotional processing of stimuli, a passive viewing task was applied, presenting pictures of negative, positive or neutral valence. Results:, When comparing CD/combined disorder patients with healthy controls, we found enhanced left-sided amygdala activation in response to negative pictures as compared to neutral pictures in the patient group. In addition, these boys exhibited no reduced activation in the orbitofrontal, anterior cingulate and insular cortices. By contrast, children with pure ADHD did not show any abnormalities in amygdala activation but showed decreased neural activity in the insula only in response to negative pictures. Conclusions:, Increased rather than reduced amygdala activation found in our study may indicate an enhanced response to environmental cues in adolescents with early-onset CD (most of whom also met the condition of ADHD), and is not consistent with the assumption of a reduced capacity to take note of affective information in the social environment. Further studies with an emphasis on developmental aspects of affect regulation are needed to clarify the relationship between CD and adult personality pathology associated with different modes of persistent antisocial behavior. [source]

Longitudinal outcome in patients with bipolar disorder assessed by life-charting is influenced by DSM-IV personality disorder symptoms

BIPOLAR DISORDERS, Issue 1 2003
Peter J Bieling
Objectives:, Few studies have examined the question of how personality features impact outcome in bipolar disorder (BD), though results from extant work and studies in major depressive disorder suggest that personality features are important in predicting outcome. The primary purpose of this paper was to examine the impact of DSM-IV personality disorder symptoms on long-term clinical outcome in BD. Methods:, The study used a ,life-charting' approach in which 87 BD patients were followed regularly and treated according to published guidelines. Outcome was determined by examining symptoms over the most recent year of follow-up and personality symptoms were assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-II) instrument at entry into the life-charting study. Results:, Patients with better outcomes had fewer personality disorder symptoms in seven out of 10 disorder categories and Cluster A personality disorder symptoms best distinguished euthymic and symptomatic patients. Conclusions:, These results raise important questions about the mechanisms linking personality pathology and outcome in BD, and argue that conceptual models concerning personality pathology and BD need to be further developed. Treatment implications of our results, such as need for psychosocial interventions and treatment algorithms, are also described. [source]

Parental rearing styles and personality disorders in prisoners and forensic patients

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY (AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY & PRACTICE), Issue 3 2005
Irma G. H. Timmerman
In the present study it was hypothesized that men with a criminal status (forensic inpatients and prisoners) would report more pathological rearing styles of their parents than men from the general population, after accounting for the influence of personality pathology. The results showed that forensic inpatients reported significantly less care from their mothers and more protection from both parents. No differences on paternal care were found though. The prisoners were less clearly distinguished from normal controls with respect to parental rearing. They perceived their fathers as more protective, however, only when the influence of the personality disorder category was controlled for and not when the influence of personality disorder features was controlled for. Further, prisoners perceived their mothers as significantly more caring. The results with respect to criminal and patient status stayed the same after controlling for the influence of personality pathology. The analyses further showed that cluster B pathology when measured as one construct was significantly associated with all parental rearing variables: less care and more protection. Also, cluster A and cluster C pathology, criminal status and inpatients status did not influence these results. When the cluster B disorders were examined separately though, a less clear picture emerged. The categorical defined borderline personality disorder was significantly related to all four rearing variables: less care and more protection. For cluster C pathology the opposite was found: when measured categorically no significant relations with rearing were found and when measured dimensionally all relations were significant. When measured dimensionally, antisocial personality features were significantly associated with less care from both parents and with more protection from the mother. When measured categorically, only the relationship with care of father remained significant. Finally, cluster A pathology was related significantly only to (low) maternal care.,Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]