Person-centered approaches in the study of personality disorders

Existing categorical models of personality disorder diagnoses capture heterogeneous populations in terms of symptom presentation and etiological influences on personality pathology. Though several well-validated alternative dimensional trait models (i.e., variable-centered approaches) of personality disorders have been developed, person-centered approaches can provide important additional information on both the phenotypic expression and etiology of personality pathology. We discuss the utility and necessary attributes of person-centered or subtype models of personality disorders and briefly review statistical approaches and other methodological considerations, drawing specific examples from the psychopathy literature. We conclude by advocating a utilitarian approach whereby person-centered and variable-centered methods complement each other to better understand personality disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record