ABSTRACT
Disorders of personality comprise a common impediment to psychotherapy progress. To provide a comprehensive understanding of personality disorders the history of personality research is reviewed. Discrete characterizations and efforts to frame abnormal personality in terms of normal personality traits have severe limitations. However, normal psychological defensive processes expressed in an extreme and enduring fashion do produce personality disorders. Advantages of this model include a continuous organization, humanistic countering the us/them perspective, and effective strategies therapists and clients can utilize to improve psychotherapy outcomes. This approach is applied to Avoidant, Narcissistic, Dependent, Obsessive-Compulsive, Antisocial, and Borderline personality disorders, with a focus on impediments to psychotherapy progress.
