ABSTRACT
Personality disorders are the most prevalent mental health condition in offender populations. This chapter examines the ways in which the personality being assessed may be relevant to the matter in hand. Personality is the collection of attitudes and beliefs, thinking patterns, emotional experiences, behaviours, interpersonal styles and self-beliefs that characterise a person most of the time in most circumstances, and which are a product of both his/her genetic inheritance and his/her experiences pre- and post-birth. Personality assessment is an attempt to identify the most important individual characteristics through a process of both direct questioning and observation. Diagnostic systems – the DSM-5 and ICD-10, soon to be ICD-11 – may also be used as a framework for loosely arranging information towards a diagnosis of personality disorder. There are a number of common difficulties and confusions in the practice of reporting personality dysfunction that are best anticipated and avoided.
