Psychopathy is a key to integrating dimensional personality disorder constructs and psychotherapy: toward a reformulation of personality and its disruption
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: While the conceptualization of personality disorder (PD) moves toward a dimensional approach, the broader adoption within clinical practice appears slow. The lack of a unifying framework in diagnostic classifications might explain this issue. Here, psychopathy, arguably the most pervasive and treatment-resistant PD variant, is presented as a key to integrating dimensional PD constructs and psychotherapy. The Dynamic Model of Psychopathy Assessment and Treatment Framework (DMP-ATF) provides a coalescing structure that, by virtue of its characterization of pivotal developmental psychological processes, hypothetically transcends variations in population, age, and clinical severity, to situate PD within a universal context. The redefined and integrated psychopathy construct and its associated framework represent a meta-theoretical approach that can unify therapeutic models, techniques, and principles to advance psychotherapy integration based on dimensional PD constructs, while placing personality and its psychopathology within a common structure. A system for converting externalizing behaviors into self-conscious emotions and needs, while managing risk, is additionally provided. While these proposals are compatible with contemporary biopsychosocial and treatment-oriented PD models and a trending treatment optimism, they await empirical validation.
Source: Frontiers in Psychiatry
Author: Aina Gullhaugen
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
OpenAlex ID: W7223179744