Chunk #71 — Psychopathology Description and Diagnosis — On the Comprehensiveness, Utility, and Parsimony of Using Homogeneous Constructs to Describe Psychopathology — The comprehensive coverage of psychopathology with description in terms of homogeneous dimensions of dysfunction
To address this possibility, one must consider what an alternative client description, based on homogeneous dimensions of functioning, would consist of. Such a description was recently provided by Samuel and Widiger (2006). They compared diagnoses made with DSM–IV criteria with those made with the 30 personality trait scales from the NEO PI-R (the six facet scales for each of the five dimensions). They used three classic clinical cases, one of which was a 1.5-page case history of Ted Bundy (Bundy was not identified in the study). Using the DSM–IV criteria, 96% of clinicians diagnosed him with antisocial personality disorder, and 80% described the case as prototypic of that disorder. Dimensional diagnosis revealed that mean scores on the 30 traits within the FFM involved a description of him as lacking normal anxiety, self-consciousness, vulnerability, and warmth; as being nontrustworthy, not straightforward, not altruistic, not compliant, and not modest; and as unusually low in tender-mindedness. He was rated as unusually high in angry hostility, assertiveness, activity level, excitement seeking, competence, order, and achievement striving.
