Personality disorders and violence: what is the link?

Abstract

Despite a well-documented association between personality disorders (PDs) and violence, the relationship between them is complicated by the high comorbidity of mental disorders, the heterogeneity of violence (particularly in regard to its motivation), and differing views regarding the way PDs are conceptualised and measured. In particular, it remains unclear whether there is a causal relationship between PDs and violence, and what the psychological mechanisms might be that mediate such a relationship. Here, a perspective on PD and violence is offered that views the relationship between them through the lenses of the Five Factor Model of personality and a quadripartite typology of violence. Evidence is reviewed suggesting that emotion dysregulation/impulsiveness, psychopathy, and delusional ideation conjointly contribute to the increased risk of violence shown by people with PD, and do so by contributing to a broad severity dimension of personality dysfunction. This view is consistent with the abandonment of personality disorder categories in the forthcoming eleventh edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), where severity of personality disorder is defined in terms of the degree of harm to self and others.

Is emotional impulsiveness (Urgency) a core feature of severe personality disorder?

“…This comprised psychiatric patients who were predominantly female (70%) and of whom 37% were confirmed as having a PD diagnosis on the basis of a semi-structured interview. These results suggest that high Urgency contributes to a general severity dimension of PD, rather than any particular type of PD, and that PD severity, including a contribution from Urgency, might in part account for the link between PD and violence (Howard, 2015).…”

Exploring a new structured professional judgment measure (impulsivity measure related to violence) after an average follow‐up of 10 years: A study of Finnish offenders

“…The current version of the IMP-V measure has 12 dynamic individual-level risk factors (Table 1), which were generated from the conceptual, theoretical, and empirical literatures on impulsivity, and impulsivity related to violence (Duggan & Howard, 2009;Esbec & Echeburua, 2010;Goldman, 2014;Howard, 2015;McCloskey, Noblett, Deffenbacher, Gollan, & Coccaro, 2008;McMurran, 2009). These are coded on a 3-point ordinal scale from 0 (not present), 1 (partially present) to 2 (present), rendering a total possible score of 0-24.…”

Perspectives on supporting fathers affected by postnatal depression and a history of violence

“…The researchers were informed by the work of Marsiglio et al, (2013) as to the internal dialogues men were likely hold and their behaviours associated with procreation and pregnancy. The researchers were reflexive in their engagement with this potentially vulnerable group; we were aware of the well documented association between personality disorders (PDs) and intimate partner violence (Howard, 2015). Consequently, the researchers sought to avoid sensitive issues and were aware of the need to withdraw questioning should the interviewees become distressed.…”