Psychopathology and personality functioning

Studying the interface between personality and psychopathology has generated significant insight into the nature of individual differences. Because personality disorders are the clearest point of convergence, much of this literature originates from contention surrounding how to define personality pathology. Shifts in how personality disorders are conceptualized, diagnosed, and treated illuminate fundamental issues for psychological science such as how to bridge theory and research, the importance of matching measurement to construct, and how to integrate diverse intellectual traditions. In this chapter, we contextualize these issues in historical and ongoing efforts to understand personality pathology. We emphasize how pathological personality processes have been simultaneously inextricable and elusive throughout these efforts; clinical theories have emphasized dysfunctional, within-person dynamics but lack scientific operationalization, and formal taxonomies have focused on describing between-person differences that obscure the underlying processes. We suggest a comprehensive model that mechanistically links nomothetic structure to contextualized processes is necessary for advancing our understanding of personality and psychopathology.