Personality and Psychopathology (American Psychopathological Association Series)

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Summary: The comorbidity of personality disorder
Review: This book is a collection of 18 papers, focusing mainly on the importance of comorbid personality disorder in other mental disease. The editor (and author on 4 of the papers), Robert Cloninger is well know for his model of personality that is based partly on chemical neuroanatomy. However, the chapters in this volume tend to keep away from physiological issues, and the main thrust is psychometric. A notable example is a chapter on PET imaging of individual differences and depression by Wayne Drevets. Another interesting paper is provided by Aaron Beck who proposes an interesting cognitive and evolutionary theory of depression, anxiety and personality disorder. Otherwise, much of this volume is taken up with more traditional approaches of modelling, factor analysing and correlating personality scale scores. Although this book aims to consider 'personality and psychopathology', it will be of most interest to readers interested in psychometrics and personality disorder.