DEFINING THE PERSONALITY-DISORDERS - DESCRIPTION OF AN AUSTRALIAN DATABASE

Objective: We seek to improve the definition and classification of the personality disorders (PDs) and derive a large database for addressin g this objective. Method: The paper describes the rationale for the de velopment of a large set of descriptors of the PDs (including all DSM- IV and ICD-10 descriptors, but enriched by an additional 109 items), t he design of parallel self-report (SR) and corroborative witness (CW) measures, sample recruitment (of 863 patients with a priori evidence o f personality disorder or disturbance) and preliminary descriptive dat a. Results: Analyses (particularly those comparing ratings on molar PD descriptions with putative PD dimensions) argue for acceptable reliab ility of the data set, while both the size of the sample and the repre sentation of all PD dimensions of interest argue for the adequacy of t he database. Conclusions: We consider in some detail current limitatio ns to the definition and classification of the PDs, and foreshadow the analytic techniques that will be used to address the key objectives o f allowing the PDs to be modelled more clearly and, ideally, measured with greater precision and validity.