Assessment of Personality Disorders in Older Adults. A Practice Guide

Assessment of personality disorders (PDs) in older adults is a nuanced trade of its own. The aim of this practice guide is to illustrate gerontological assessment challenges using 3 case vignettes. We argue that it is important to pay extra attention to the influence of cognitive and medical (somati...

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Published inJournal of geriatric psychiatry and neurology p. 8919887231175431
Main Authors van Alphen, Sebastiaan Pj, van der Werff, Sanne, Rosowsky, Erlene, Segal, Daniel L, Rossi, Gina
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.11.2023
Subjects
older adults
screening
age-specific instruments
personality assessment
personality disorders
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Summary:Assessment of personality disorders (PDs) in older adults is a nuanced trade of its own. The aim of this practice guide is to illustrate gerontological assessment challenges using 3 case vignettes. We argue that it is important to pay extra attention to the influence of cognitive and medical (somatic) disorders on personality functioning in older adults during personality assessment. We also note that information provided by informants contributes added value to personality assessment. Personality assessment should be sufficiently age-specific to prevent overdiagnosis or underdiagnosis in older adults. Furthermore, given the reduced psychological or somatic capacity of some older adults, phased or sequential personality assessment is recommended. This should be focused on the assessment questions to be answered, for example starting with short general screening of personality functioning, followed by more in-depth exploration. Personality assessment should be kept as brief and simple as possible in terms of formulation of the items.
ISSN:0891-9887
1552-5708
DOI:10.1177/08919887231175431