Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T10:23:37.792Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Clinical assessment of personality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The importance of personality is recognised tacitly by the development of the multiaxial classifications of ICD–10 (World Health Organization, 1992) and DSM–IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1993). The separation of axis 1 or current mental state diagnosis from axis 2, on which personality is described, is a recognition that personality is separate from other aspects of the patient's diagnostic status. Nevertheless, many clinicians are sceptical that personality can be assessed reliably and some hold that the diagnosis should be abandoned as being merely judgemental and pejorative (Lewis & Appleby, 1988). There is some basis for scepticism in respect of reliability in view of the evidence that even with operational criteria the clinical assessment of personality is not transportable, and the level of agreement between practising clinicians is much less than that achieved during field trials (Mellsop et al, 1982).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 1997 

References

American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised) (DSM–III–R). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1993) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edn) (DSM-IV). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Brothwell, J., Casey, P. & Tyrer, P. (1992) Who gives the most reliable account of a psychiatric patient's personality? Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 9, 9093.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casey, P. & Tyrer, P. (1990) Personality disorder and psychiatric illness in general practice. British Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 261265.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Casey, P. & Butler, E. (1995) The effects of personality on response to ECT in major depression. Journal of Personality Disorders, 9, 134142.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H. J. & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1964) Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPQ). London: University of London Press.Google Scholar
Hathaway, S. R. & McKinley, J. C. (1940) A multiphasic personality schedule (Minnesota): Construction of the schedule. Journal of Psychology, 10, 249254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyler, S., Reider, R., Spitzer, R. et al (1982) Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire. New York: New York State Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
Hyler, S., Skodol, A. E., Kellman, H. D. et al (1990) Validity of the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire – Revised: comparison with two structured interviews. American Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 10431048.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E. & DiScipio, W. J. (1968) Eysenck Personality Inventory scores of patients with depressive illness. British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 767770.Google Scholar
Lewis, G. & Appleby, L. (1988) Personality disorder: the patients psychiatrists dislike. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 4449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Livesley, W. J. (1986) Trait and behavioural prototypes of personality disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 728732.Google Scholar
Loranger, A. W., Susman, V. L., Oldham, M. M. et al (1987) The Personality Disorder Examination: a preliminary report. Journal of Personality Disorders, 1, 113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loranger, A. W., Lenzenweger, M. F., Gartner, A. F. et al (1991) Trait-state artifacts and the diagnosis of personality disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 48, 720728.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luborsky, L. & Crits-Christoph, P. (1990) Understanding Transference: The CCRT Method. New York, Basic Books.Google Scholar
Mann, A. H., Jenkins, R., Cutting, J. C. et al (1981) The development and use of a standardized assessment of abnormal personality. Psychological Medicine, 11, 839847.Google Scholar
Mellsop, G., Varghese, F., Joshua, S. et al (1982) The reliability of axis II of DSM–III. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 13601361.Google ScholarPubMed
Millon, T. (1982) Millon Clinical Multi-Axial Inventory (2nd edn). Minneapolis, MN: Interpretive Scoring Systems.Google Scholar
Perry, J. C. (1992) Problems and considerations in the valid assessment of personality disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 16451653.Google ScholarPubMed
Riso, L. P., Klein, D. N., Anderson, R. L. et al (1994) Concordance between patients and informants on the Personality Disorder Examination. American Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 568573.Google ScholarPubMed
Sara, G., Raven, P. & Mann, A. (1996) A comparison of DSM–III–R and ICD–10 personality disorder criteria in an outpatient population. Psychological Medicine, 26, 151160.Google Scholar
Skodol, A. E., Rosnick, L., Kellman, D. et al (1991) Development of a procedure for validating structured assessments of axis II. In Personality Disorders: New Perspectives on Diagnostic Validity (ed. Oldham, J. M.) Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L. (1983) Psychiatric diagnosis: are clinicians still necessary? Comprehensive Psychiatry, 24, 399411.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spitzer, R. L., Williams, J. B. W. & Gibbons, M. (1987) Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–III–R, Patient Version. New York: New York State Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
Stangl, D., Pfohl, B., Zimmerman, M. et al (1985) Structured interview for DSM–III personality disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 42, 591596.Google Scholar
Thompson, D. J. & Goldberg, D. (1987) Hysterical personality disorder. The process of diagnosis in clinical and experimental settings. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 241245.Google Scholar
Tyrer, P. & Alexander, J. (1979) Classification of personality disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 163167.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tyrer, P., Strauss, J. & Cicchetti, D. (1983) Temporal reliability of personality in psychiatric patients. Psychological Medicine, 13, 393398.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tyrer, P., Merson, S., Onyett, S. et al (1994) The effects of personality disorder on clinical outcome, social networks and adjustment: a controlled clinical trial of psychiatric emergencies. Psychological Medicine, 24, 731740.Google Scholar
Widiger, T. A. (1987) The multidimensional scaling of the DSM–III personality disorders. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 44, 557563.Google Scholar
Widiger, T. A., Frances, A. J., Harris, M. et al (1991) Co-morbidity among axis 11 disorders. In Personality Disorder: New Perspectives on Diagnostic Validity (ed. Oldham, J. M.) Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1978) Mental Disorders. Glossary and Guide to their Classification in Accordance with the 9th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD–9). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1992) The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders. Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, M. (1994) Diagnosing personality disorders: a review of issues and research methods. Archives of General Psychiatry, 51, 225245.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, M. & Coryell, W. H. (1990) Diagnosing personality disorders in the community: a comparison of self-report and interview measures. Archives of General Psychiatry, 47, 527531.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zimmerman, M., Pfohl, B., Coryell, W. et al (1988) Diagnosing personality disorder in depressed patients. A comparison of patient and informant interviews. Archives of General Psychiatry, 45, 733737.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.