Working with traits

Personality disorders - borderline, narcissistic, histrionic, avoidant, compulsive - are pathological amplifications of normal traits, according to Joel Paris, M.D. And because traits have strong genetic components and do not undergo radical change over an individual's lifetime, Dr. Paris believes that therapists should seek to work with them. Accordingly, he develops guidelines for treatment that focus less on childhood and past experiences and more on patients' present lives. The attainable objective is to help patients make use of their underlying personality characteristics in adaptive…