Major Theories of Personality Disorder

The editors have compiled a useful and timely volume. It is useful because it brings together some of the more important theories of personality disorder in a single volume, thereby facilitating comparison and analysis. The editors express the hope that this will fill the conceptual and theoretical void in the study of personality disorder. It is timely because the study of personality disorder is at an interesting juncture; after a period of steady growth, the field seems to lack direction. The editors suggest that the field is progressing to a second stage of its development in which greater emphasis is placed on etiology and development. The problem that the field faces is that the impetus and conceptual support for recent empirical work was largely provided by theDSM-III. The decision to classify personality disorders on a separate axis drew attention to the importance of personality disorder and promoted interest in