TY - JOUR
T1 - Special section. DSM-IV reviews of the personality disorders
T2 - Introduction to special series
AU - Widiger, T. A.
PY - 1991
Y1 - 1991
N2 - A concern raised by several authors regarding the DSM-III and DSM-III-R personality disorders was the potential absence of sufficient justification and empirical support for the addition of diagnoses and for the revision of criteria sets (e.g., Caplan, 1987; Gunderson, 1983; Kaplan, 1983; Kernberg, 1984; Michels, 1984; Millon, 1981; Perry, 1990). The rationale and justification for some of the additions and revisions have been published (e.g., Kass, Spitzer, Williams, and Widiger, 1989; Spitzer, Williams, and Skodol, 1980; Widiger, Frances, Spitzer, and Williams, 1988), but these papers have typically appeared after the publication of the manual. Work began on DSM-IV in 1988 and it is scheduled to appear in 1993. The development of DSM-IV was prompted by the concurrent development of the 10th edition of the International Classification of Diseases (Frances, Widiger, and Pincus, 1989), but the anticipation of further revisions to the personality disorders section has already generated criticism and concern (Blashfield, Sprock, and Fuller, 1990; Caplan, in press; Zimmerman, 1988). One concern is that frequent changes disrupt research and do not allow sufficient empirical review of the nomenclature to develop. As a result, DSM-IV might include arbitrary revisions that largely reflect the theoretical or empirical biases of the committee members. These concerns are shared by the DSM-IV Task Force and Work Groups. The process by which DSM-IV is being developed includes a number of safeguards to minimize the occurrence of arbitrary, biased, and/or whimsical revisions (Frances, Pincus, Widiger, Davis, and First, 1990). One such safeguard has been to require written reviews of the empirical and clinical literature for each issue, proposal, or diagnosis and to subject the reviews themselves to critical review (discussed further below). The publication of personality disorder reviews in this special series of the Journal of Personality Disorders is part of this effort to provide an open, explicit, and systematic review of the evidentiary basis for proposed revisions.
AB - A concern raised by several authors regarding the DSM-III and DSM-III-R personality disorders was the potential absence of sufficient justification and empirical support for the addition of diagnoses and for the revision of criteria sets (e.g., Caplan, 1987; Gunderson, 1983; Kaplan, 1983; Kernberg, 1984; Michels, 1984; Millon, 1981; Perry, 1990). The rationale and justification for some of the additions and revisions have been published (e.g., Kass, Spitzer, Williams, and Widiger, 1989; Spitzer, Williams, and Skodol, 1980; Widiger, Frances, Spitzer, and Williams, 1988), but these papers have typically appeared after the publication of the manual. Work began on DSM-IV in 1988 and it is scheduled to appear in 1993. The development of DSM-IV was prompted by the concurrent development of the 10th edition of the International Classification of Diseases (Frances, Widiger, and Pincus, 1989), but the anticipation of further revisions to the personality disorders section has already generated criticism and concern (Blashfield, Sprock, and Fuller, 1990; Caplan, in press; Zimmerman, 1988). One concern is that frequent changes disrupt research and do not allow sufficient empirical review of the nomenclature to develop. As a result, DSM-IV might include arbitrary revisions that largely reflect the theoretical or empirical biases of the committee members. These concerns are shared by the DSM-IV Task Force and Work Groups. The process by which DSM-IV is being developed includes a number of safeguards to minimize the occurrence of arbitrary, biased, and/or whimsical revisions (Frances, Pincus, Widiger, Davis, and First, 1990). One such safeguard has been to require written reviews of the empirical and clinical literature for each issue, proposal, or diagnosis and to subject the reviews themselves to critical review (discussed further below). The publication of personality disorder reviews in this special series of the Journal of Personality Disorders is part of this effort to provide an open, explicit, and systematic review of the evidentiary basis for proposed revisions.
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U2 - 10.1521/pedi.1991.5.2.122
DO - 10.1521/pedi.1991.5.2.122
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:0025740132
SN - 0885-579X
VL - 5
SP - 122
EP - 134
JO - Journal of Personality Disorders
JF - Journal of Personality Disorders
IS - 2
ER -