Conceptualization and treatment of personality disorders

There is an emerging consensus that the essence of personality pathology consists of difficulties with self-identity and chronic interpersonal dysfunction. The nature of normal and abnormal attachment to others, attention control, affect regulation, and the autobiographical self are related developmentally to the early caregiving context. Psychotherapeutic intervention for adults with personality disorders across many schools of psychotherapy is focused on changing the individual's dysfunctional internal models of self and others. Future research will examine how cognitive, cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal, and psychodynamic treatments accomplish this task. Advances in neurobiology, laboratory tasks, and interview techniques will assist in the measurement of personality organization and identification of subgroups of patients for more refined treatments. Our future treatment development must be differentiated and multifaceted, respecting subgroups of patients with severe personality disorders.