Improving characterization of psychopathy within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), alternative model for personality disorders: Creation and validation of Personality Inventory for DSM-5 Triarchic scales.

The latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) bridges a significant gap in psychiatric nosology by providing trait-based characterizations of psychopathy along with antisocial personality disorder within the Section III alternative model for personality disorders (AMPD). However, the representation of psychopathy in the AMPD has met with some criticisms (Crego & Widiger, 2014; Few, Lynam, Maples, MacKillop, & Miller, 2015). The current study was undertaken to establish an improved means for characterizing psychopathy in DSM-5 Section III terms, by creating scale measures of triarchic psychopathy dimensions using items from the best-established assessment instrument for the AMPD, the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5).

Categorical and Dimensional Conceptions of Personality Pathology in DSM-5: Toward a Model-Based Synthesis.

Symptom-based models, typically operationalized through diagnostic interview, and trait models, typically operationalized via questionnaire inventories, reflect historically competing conceptions of personality disorder (PD). DSM-5 includes models of both types, in Sections II and III, respectively. In this study, we sought to synthesize these alternative conceptualizations by fitting bifactor models to data for both Section II PD symptoms (assessed using the SCID-II interview protocol) and dimensional traits for the six PDs retained in Section III (assessed using the Personality Inventory for DSM-5).

Evidence of a prominent genetic basis for associations between psychoneurometric traits and common mental disorders.

Threat sensitivity (THT) and weak inhibitory control (or disinhibition; DIS) are trait constructs that relate to multiple types of psychopathology and can be assessed psychoneurometrically (i.e., using self-report and physiological indicators combined).

Externalizing proneness and brain response during pre-cuing and viewing of emotional pictures.

Externalizing proneness, or trait disinhibition, is a concept relevant to multiple high-impact disorders involving impulsive-aggressive behavior. Its mechanisms remain disputed: major models posit hyperresponsive reward circuitry or heightened threat-system reactivity as sources of disinhibitory tendencies. This study evaluated alternative possibilities by examining relations between trait disinhibition and brain reactivity during preparation for and processing of visual affective stimuli.

Characterizing psychopathy using DSM-5 personality traits.

Despite its importance historically and contemporarily, psychopathy is not recognized in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revised (DSM-IV-TR). Its closest counterpart, antisocial personality disorder, includes strong representation of behavioral deviance symptoms but weak representation of affective-interpersonal features considered central to psychopathy. The current study evaluated the extent to which psychopathy and its distinctive facets, indexed by the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure, can be assessed effectively using traits from the dimensional model of personality pathology developed for DSM-5, operationalized by the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5).