Attachment anxiety and avoidance as mediators of the association between childhood maltreatment and adult personality dysfunction.

This paper tests the hypothesis that the association between childhood maltreatment and adult personality dysfunction is at least partially attributable to insecure attachment, that is that attachment style mediates the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adult personality dysfunction. Associations between childhood trauma, as measured by the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), anxious and avoidant attachment in romantic relationships, as measured by the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R), and five personality domains, as measured by the Severity Indices of Personality Problems (SIPP-118), were examined in a sample of 72 psychiatric inpatients. The SIPP-118 domains included relational capacities, identity integration, self-control, responsibility, and social concordance.

Maladaptive interpersonal schemas as sensitive and specific markers of borderline personality disorder among psychiatric inpatients.

Diagnostic criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD) and mood and psychotic disorders characterized by major mood episodes (i.e., major depressive, bipolar and schizoaffective disorder) share marked overlap in symptom presentation, complicating differential diagnosis.

Disturbed self concept mediates the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adult personality pathology.

Background: Despite a robust literature documenting the relationship between childhood maltreatment and personality pathology in adulthood, there is far less clarity about the mechanism underlying this relationship. One promising candidate for such a linking mechanism is disturbance in the sense of self. This paper tests the hypothesis that disturbances in the sense of self mediate the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adult personality pathology.

Assessment of Sexual Fantasies in Psychiatric Inpatients With Mood and Psychotic Disorders and Comorbid Personality Disorder Traits.

Introduction: Sexuality is an important aspect of quality of life and sexual fantasies comprise a normal part of human sexuality. However, the nature of sexuality and sexual fantasies of patients with mental illness remains an understudied area.

Aim: To investigate the nature and frequency of sexual fantasies in psychiatric patients, the present study compared the frequency of four types of sexual fantasies across four different mood and psychotic diagnoses and three personality disorder clusters.