Pathological Altruism and Personality Disorder

Thomas A. Widiger; Jennifer Ruth Presnall

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199738571.003.0068

Pathological Altruism and Personality Disorder

Thomas A. Widiger, Jennifer Ruth Presnall

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to understand pathological altruism from the perspective of personality theory and research. Altruism is one of the facets of a well-validated dimension of general personality structure. This dimension-agreeableness-has both adaptive and maladaptive variants. Some maladaptive variants of altruism (e.g., excessive self-sacrifice) are part of the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic criteria for a dependent personality disorder. Empirical support for this conceptualization of pathological altruism is discussed, along with two case illustrations.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Pathological Altruism
ISBN (Electronic)	9780199918669
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199738571.003.0068
State	Published - Jan 19 2012

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Oxford University Press, 2014.

Keywords

Dependent personality disorder
Five-factor model
Pathological altruism

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Psychology

Access to Document

10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199738571.003.0068

Cite this

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Pathological Altruism and Personality Disorder

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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Cite this