Passive-Aggressive, Depressive, and Sadistic Personality Disorders

The problem of diagnostic coverage remains a matter of significant theoretical and empirical debate as the mental health field approaches the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). The extensive use of the diagnosis “personality disorder not otherwise specified” (PDNOS) highlights the problem. Verheul and Widiger (2004) investigated the use of PDNOS. They found that, when structured interviews were used, PDNOS was the third most common personality disorder (PD) diagnosis (after borderline and avoidant), and when unstructured interviews were used, it was the most common. They estimated the prevalence of PDNOS in clinical samples to ..