Open AccessPerson-centered approaches in the study of personality disorders.
Author(s) -
Brian M. Hicks,
David A. Clark,
C. Emily Durbin
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
personality disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.864
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1949-2715
pISSN - 1949-2723
DOI - 10.1037/per0000212
Subject(s) - personality , categorical variable , psychopathy , personality disorders , personality pathology , psychology , trait , psycinfo , clinical psychology , medical diagnosis , etiology , medline , social psychology , psychiatry , medicine , computer science , pathology , machine learning , political science , law , programming language
Existing categorical models of personality disorder diagnoses capture heterogeneous populations in terms of symptom presentation and etiological influences on personality pathology. Though several well-validated alternative dimensional trait models (i.e., variable-centered approaches) of personality disorders have been developed, person-centered approaches can provide important additional information on both the phenotypic expression and etiology of personality pathology. We discuss the utility and necessary attributes of person-centered or subtype models of personality disorders and briefly review statistical approaches and other methodological considerations, drawing specific examples from the psychopathy literature. We conclude by advocating a utilitarian approach whereby person-centered and variable-centered methods complement each other to better understand personality disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record