DR. CARLA SHARP
MARCH 19 | 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
The DSM-5 Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD) offers for the first time a dimensional diagnostic framework for assessing personality functioning across the lifespan. In this talk, a developmental model for personality pathology is presented which outlines the integrated developmental function of the AMPD’s Criterion A (maladaptive self and interpersonal function) and Criterion B (maladaptive trait function). This model suggests that a child’s position on any dispositional trait dimension (Criterion B/Big 5/internalizing-externalizing-psychotic spectra) can be readily identified and recognized already in infancy and has been found to remain relatively stable throughout development. However, while children may display extreme scores indicative of maladaptive trait function, they are not diagnosed with personality disorder before adolescence, because until adolescence, there is a limited requirement placed on children to acquire the new level of knowledge, skills, and cultural competence to successfully transition to an independent adult role. These functions of “work and love” are articulated in Criterion A of the AMPD and include functioning pertaining to identity, self-direction, empathy, and intimacy. While Criterion A domains can be assessed in pre-adolescence, these components do not “bind together” into a unidimensional severity criterion until adolescence. Clinical implications of the model for the assessment of personality development is discussed by extending it into a Clinical Staging assessment framework, which allows for the evaluation of personality function across both developmental epochs and stages of disorder progression.
