Diagnosis and treatment of personality disorders.

This article touches on four current areas of controversy in the field of the personality disorders -- definition, etiology, assessment, and treatment. There is a tremendous amount of disability, personal distress, and public health expense as a result of the personality disorders. We are seeing steady progress in each of these areas. The implications of this progress are enormous, and the interest in this area is widespread, not just among psychiatric health professionals or among patients and their families and friends, but also among the public at large.