Am J Psychiatry 1980; 137:1050-1054
Copyright © 1980 by American Psychiatric Association
The DSM-III personality disorders section: a commentary
A Frances
The author reviews the DSM-III section on personality disorders, discusses
several of its more controversial diagnoses, and suggests some possible
alternatives. He attributes the continued low reliability of personality
diagnoses, compared with the other major sections of DSM- III, to two
inherent obstacles: the lack of clear boundaries demarcating the
personality disorders from normality and from one another, and the
confounding influence of state and role factors. Nonetheless, the DSM-III
multiaxial system highlights the importance of personality diagnosis and,
together with the provision of clearly specified diagnostic criteria,
achieves a considerably improved reliability compared with previous
nomenclatures.
