This volume compiles the conclusions of more than 30 international contributors who each examined the link between personality traits and psychopathology. In light of findings which highlighted the importance of personality in the development and expression of psychopathology, the reference examines several interlocking perspectives: descriptive, developmental, aetiological and therapeutic. It tackles: a description of the frequency and patterns of overlap between personality and psychopathology; the structure and stability of normal personality traits across the lifespan and their relation to psychopathology; an analysis of personality disorders from three different approaches; the causes of individual differences in personality and psychopathology from genetic, psychosocial and neurobiological perspectives; and the role of personality in the treatment of psychopathology.
Part I: Role of Personality in Psychopathology. Personality and vulnerability to affective disorders. Measurement of psychopathology as variants of personality. Personality correlates of eating disorder subtypes. Axis I and Axis II: comorbidity or confusion? Part II: What Is Normal Personality Structure and Development? Personality development in childhood: old and new findings. Continuity and change over the adult life cycle: personality and personality disorders. Evaluating the structure of personality. Part III: What Is a Personality Disorder? Categorical approaches to assessment and diagnosis of personality disorders. Dimensional approaches to personality disorder assessment and diagnosis. Emotional traits and personality dimensions. Part IV: What Causes Good and Bad Personality Development? Comparing the biological and cultural inheritance of stature and conservatism in the kinships of monozygotic and dizygotic twins. Psychosocial factors in the development of personality disorders. Genetic and environmental structure of personality. Emerging neuroscience approaches to understanding cognition and psychopathology: positron emission tomography imaging. Part V: Treatment and Outcome of Personality Disorders. Cognitive aspects of personality disorders and their relation to syndromal disorders: a psychoevolutionary approach. Pharmacotherapy of impulsive-aggressive behavior. Temperament and the pharmacotherapy of depression. Treatment of borderline personality disorder with rational emotive behavior therapy. Index.
