Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143:728-732
Copyright © 1986 by American Psychiatric Association
Trait and behavioral prototypes of personality disorder
WJ Livesley
The author reports a survey of the clinical features used by psychiatrists
to diagnose personality disorders. The purpose was to develop definitions
of these disorders and to identify behavioral features that could be used
as diagnostic criteria. Psychiatrists rated trait and behavioral items
describing each disorder for the degree to which they were prototypical of
the disorder. Judgments of the prototypical quality of traits and behaviors
were found to be equally reliable. Given that behavioral criteria require
less inferential judgment, subsequent revisions of criteria to assess
personality disorders can employ behavioral criteria in the expectation of
improved reliability without loss of validity.
