This entry presents an overview of personality disorders with an emphasis on those personality disorders that are relevant from a forensic perspective. The psychiatry classification system of the American Psychiatric Association, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition(DSM-5), distinguishes a number of personality disorders, which are clustered in three categories. Cluster A personality disorders, distinguished by features of eccentricity, include paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders. Cluster B personality disorders, characterized by emotionality or unpredictability, include antisocial, borderline, narcissistic, and histrionic personality disorders. Finally, Cluster C personality disorders are distinguished by features of anxiety: avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders.

There are a number of disadvantages of this model of categorizing personality disorders. Most patients diagnosed with a personality disorder meet criteria for ...

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