Dimensional models of personality disorders

In personality pathology, dimensional models of personality disorders conceptualize personality disorders as qualitatively rather than quantitatively different from normal personality. They consist of extreme, maladaptive levels of certain personality characteristics. Within the context of personality psychology, a "dimension" refers to a continuum on which an individual can have various levels of a characteristic, in contrast to the dichotomous categorical approach in which an individual does or does not possess a characteristic. According to dimensional models personality disorders are classified according to which characteristics are expressed at which levels. This stands in contrast to the traditional categorical models of classification, which are based on the boolean presence or absence of symptoms and do not take into account levels of expression of a characteristic or the presence of any underlying dimension.

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