Around a Hundred Measures of the Major Personality Disorders

Abstract: The assessment and classification of the personality disorders (PDs) has attracted considerable debate for nearly 50 years, particularly over the last decade. Psychologists, psychiatrists, and psychometricians have attempted to devise valid, self-report measures of each of the PDs, as well as reliable interview schedules. This paper provides a hopefully, comprehensive listing of the instruments designed to assess specific, individual PDs as described in DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5, focused on traditional specific PD constructs. There remains however much debate as to the comprehensiveness of each test in measuring all the distinct facets of a PD, or indeed whether the test is assessing only symptoms rather than the full range of agreed behaviors defining a PD. There was great range in the tests available to measure each PD, ranging from one to assess Passive-Aggressive PD, to twenty-three to assess Borderline PD. The aim is to provide an up-to-date listing, and description, of the current, measures of individual PDs. A list of possible selection criteria for choosing a test is offered. The move to dimensional, as opposed to categorical, assessment of all the PDs is noted. Limitations are acknowledged.