Citation

Cooke DJ. J. Personal. Disord. 2010; 24(5): 539-550.

Affiliation

Glasgow Caledonian University.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Guilford Publications)

DOI

10.1521/pedi.2010.24.5.539

PMID

20958168

Abstract

This paper introduces the Special Section on personality disorder and violence. The first paper evaluates the impact of removing the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R) as a mandatory element of a major approach to the assessment of violence risk-the HCR-20. The second paper considers violence to self as well as violence to others; it examines the influence of dysfunctional personality traits in a sample of female offenders. The third paper provides a systematic framework for risk formulation, discussing how to bridge the gap between nomothetic research and the individual case. This paper concludes by arguing that there is a need to shift perspective from asking "what?" dysfunctional traits are relevant to future violence to "why?" are particular traits relevant. The "why?" question is particularly germane in the forensic arena where expert testimony must endeavor to provide a causal explanation of risk processes at the level of the individual.

Language: en