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Is there Empirical Justification for the Category of `Self-Defeating Personality Disorder'?

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 252 Bloor St West, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V6, Canada.

Maureen Gans

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 252 Bloor St West, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V6, Canada.

The empirical literature on Self-Defeating Personality Disorder (SDPD) that has appeared since the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-III-R was published is reviewed from several standpoints, including the dangers it poses to women by pathologizing them. It is concluded that there is a paucity of research; that some of what exists is seriously flawed methodologically; that some shows that SDPD criteria lack face validity; that the category has poor diagnostic power and overlaps substantially with other categories; and that SDPD continues to be dangerous for people of both sexes but especially for women. It is concluded, therefore, that SDPD should be excluded from the DSM-IV.

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