Assessment of maladaptiveness: A core issue in the diagnosing of personality disorders

Although an operationalized and commonly accepted definition of maladaptive ness is lacking, the delineation of personality traits as being adaptive or maladaptive is essential in diagnosing personality disorders (PDs). A way to explore the meaning of maladaptiveness is to compare how patients from a ll DSM-III-R PDs relate to different traits and dimensions of various dimen sional models of personality. In the present study, the: Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP) were used in a sample of 94 psychiatric outpatients wh o were assessed according to severity of maladaption and according to type of predominant cluster type of deviant traits. Only one: of four factors of the scores of the KSP subscales, "Interpersonal Aversiveness," was related to degree of maladaption, indicating high detachment, suspicion, irritabil ity, dysphoria, and low socialization as core features of maladaptiveness. Three subscales of the KSP Socialization were all associated with maladapti veness, However, one subscale, "Childhood Adjustment," was also related to the predominant cluster type of personality pathology.