ABSTRACT
The ways in which level of personality organization and character formation are interdependent have been theoretically advanced by Kernberg’s (1984) work. Empirical research to test such theory, however, has been virtually absent. Specific character pathologies and their relationship to psychotic personality organization have likewise received little attention (Frosch, 1983; Meloy, 1988). In fact, it was not until the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev. [DSM–III–R]; American Psychiatric Association, 1987) that the diagnoses of schizophrenia and antisocial personality disorder, for instance, could be applied to the same patient at the same time.
