Biologic correlates of personality disorders

Biologic measures that have proved useful in characterizing the Axis I disorders are increasingly implicating psychobiologic correlates of the Axis II disorders. Biologic abnormalities in the Axis II disorders may be associated with dimensions of impulsivty, affective instability, anxiety, and cognitive disorganization; and with dramatic, anxious, and odd cluster diagnoses. Schizotypal and borderline personality disorder have been most intenslvely investigated; abnormalities in dopaminergic function and information processing are implicated in the former, whereas sleep architecture and serotonerglc abnonnalities are implicated in the latter. A biologic approach to personality disorder may have implicatlons for our understanding of the development of psychopathology, genetic studies, and at-risk prevention strategies