ABSTRACT
In 1980, the American Psychiatric Association published the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III), introducing a multiaxial classifi cation system. Axis II of this new manual was devoted primarily to personality dysfunction, due to the considerable prevalence of maladaptive personality traits in general clinical practice and the substantial impact of these traits on the course and treatment of other mental disorders (Frances, 1980). In this chapter, we begin by discussing issues in the diagnosis of personality disorders as defi ned in the fourth, text revision, edition of the diagnostic manual (i.e., DSM-IV-TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000). We also include an alternative model for the diagnosis and classifi cation of maladaptive personality functioning, the Five-Factor Model (FFM; Costa & McCrae, 1992).
