Juror decision-making regarding a defendant diagnosed with borderline personality disorder

Practical implications of ICD-11 personality disorder classifications

Personality disorders (PDs) are associated with an inferior quality of life, poor health, and premature mortality, leading to heavy clinical, familial, and societal burdens. The International Classification of Diseases-11 (ICD-11) makes a thorough, dramatic paradigm shift from the categorical to dimensional diagnosis of PD and expands the application into adolescence. We have reviewed the recent literature on practical implications, and severity and trait measures of ICD-11 defined PDs, by comparing with the alternative model of personality disorders in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), by mentioning the relevance in forensic and social concerns, and by referencing the developmental implication of life span, especially in adolescence. Study results strongly support the dimensional utility of ICD-11 PD diagnosis and application in adolescence which warrants early detection and intervention. More evidence-based research is needed along the ICD-11 PD application, such as its social relevance, measurement simplification, and longitudinal design of lifespan observation and treatment.

Implicit Gender Bias in the Clinical Judgment of Psychopathy and Personality Disorders among Licensed Psychologists in the USA

The role of implicit gender bias in the assessment of mental disorders remains a contentious and consequential issue. Inaccurate assessment of psychopathy and personality disorders (PD) among health care professionals can have deleterious consequences with respect to treatment access and planning, as well as legal decision making within forensic settings. Using a quantitative cross-sectional experimental design, 180 licensed psychologists from the USA were recruited via email using non-probability convenience sampling. Implicit gender bias was measured by randomly assigning participants to one of two experimental conditions (i.e., male vs. female pronoun case vignette). While adjusted logistic regression models confirmed significant associations between gender pronoun of case vignette and clinical judgment of PDs, this was not supported for psychopathy. Licensed psychologists were significantly more likely to render a judgment of borderline PD in the female, compared to the male, gender pronoun condition. Conversely, they were significantly more likely to render a judgment of antisocial PD in the male, compared to the female, gender pronoun condition. These findings suggest that despite progress in the understanding of gender role behaviors, personality disorders, and clinical training protocols, implicit gender bias persists among licensed psychologists in the USA.