A conceptualization of personality-related disorders of interpersonal behaviour with implications for treatment

✍ Scribed by Carlo Perris

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 209 KB
• Volume: 6
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1063-3995
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0879(199910)6:4<239::aid-cpp207>3.0.co;2-b

✦ Synopsis

This article highlights the problematic aspects with current definitions and classifications of personality disorders. Because of the acknowledged developmental nature of these disorders, a suggestion of an alternative conceptualization derived from a comprehensive interactional model of psychopathology is proposed. Attachment theory and its corollaries constitute the base for the reconceptualization of personality disorders in terms of personality-related disorders of interpersonal behaviour put forth in the article. Such a reconceptualization appears to be in line with current clinical practice. It counteracts negative attitudes toward patients who are given a personality disorder label, and has important implications for treatment as well as for research.