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6b - A Hierarchical, Dimensional Approach Can Advance Personality Disorder Research: Commentary on Categorical Models of Personality Disorders

from Part II - Models

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2020

By
Christopher C. Conway
Edited by
Carl W. Lejuez  and
Kim L. Gratz
Carl W. Lejuez
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Kim L. Gratz
Affiliation:
University of Toledo, Ohio
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Summary

Categorical rubrics are the prevailing approach to personality disorder (PD) assessment and diagnosis. Diagnostic manuals, funding bodies, and training programs tend to follow this categorical model. Yet there is now abundant evidence that PD categories are impeding research progress on personality pathology. This chapter describes an emerging dimensional perspective on personality problems, the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP). The HiTOP framework encapsulates factor analytically derived higher- and lower-order dimensions of personality pathology, ranging from an overarching general factor of psychopathology at the hierarchy’s apex to homogeneous maladaptive personality traits and acute symptoms at the base. This multi-level system bypasses aspects of categorical PD diagnoses that researchers find problematic (e.g., comorbidity, within-diagnosis heterogeneity, and insufficient coverage of personality problems encountered in the clinic). HiTOP has the potential to renew field-wide interest in PD and streamline social, psychological, and biological research on personality pathology.

Keywords

diagnosisHierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP)nosologypersonality disorderresearch methods
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Disorders , pp. 140 - 142
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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