- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- 4.7.1 Generalized anxiety disorders
- 4.7.2 Social anxiety disorder and specific phobias
- 4.7.3 Panic disorder and agoraphobia
- 4.8 Obsessive–compulsive disorder
- 4.9 Depersonalization disorder
- 4.10 Disorders of eating
- 4.11 Sexuality, gender identity, and their disorders
- 4.12 Personality disorders
- 4.12.1 Personality disorders: an introductory perspective
- 4.12.2 Diagnosis and classification of personality disorders
- 4.12.3 Specific types of personality disorder
- 4.12.4 Epidemiology of personality disorders
- 4.12.5 Neuropsychological templates for abnormal personalities: from genes to biodevelopmental pathways
- 4.12.6 Psychotherapy for personality disorder
- 4.12.7 Management of personality disorder
- 4.13 Habit and impulse control disorder
- 4.14 Sleep–wake disorders
- 4.15 Suicide
- 4.16 Culture-related specific psychiatric syndromes
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Neuropsychological templates for abnormal personalities: from genes to biodevelopmental pathways
- Chapter:
- Neuropsychological templates for abnormal personalities: from genes to biodevelopmental pathways
- Author(s):
Adolf Tobeña
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780199696758.003.0112
To give a broad overview of an area that may be crucial to illuminate the genesis of personality disorders, I shall discuss the studies that, during the last decade, have tried to find genetic traces for personality traits that are both behaviourally consistent and biologically well rooted. Previous work using classical (familial or twin) methods had found substantial heritability estimates for several personality traits. It was thus unsurprising that genetic tracking methods impulsed research aimed at showing that temperamental traits contribute to personality scaffolding via neuroendocrine targets specified by particular genes. I’ll be discussing the outcome of some of these efforts and I’ll explore afterwards how other basic temperamental traits, rooted within biodevelopmental processes, do mediate enduring neurocognitive organization resulting in long-lasting behavioural styles. Finally I’ll outline new avenues for the neuropsychology of personality. My approach is deliberately selective, discussing relevant evidence rather than performing a systematic assessment of the field. For reasons of convenience and possible clinical relevance, I have selected some of the traits heralding sound biological foundations, although they are not necessarily prominent in the state-of-the-art dimensional ‘solutions’ for normal and abnormal temperaments.
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- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- 4.7.1 Generalized anxiety disorders
- 4.7.2 Social anxiety disorder and specific phobias
- 4.7.3 Panic disorder and agoraphobia
- 4.8 Obsessive–compulsive disorder
- 4.9 Depersonalization disorder
- 4.10 Disorders of eating
- 4.11 Sexuality, gender identity, and their disorders
- 4.12 Personality disorders
- 4.12.1 Personality disorders: an introductory perspective
- 4.12.2 Diagnosis and classification of personality disorders
- 4.12.3 Specific types of personality disorder
- 4.12.4 Epidemiology of personality disorders
- 4.12.5 Neuropsychological templates for abnormal personalities: from genes to biodevelopmental pathways
- 4.12.6 Psychotherapy for personality disorder
- 4.12.7 Management of personality disorder
- 4.13 Habit and impulse control disorder
- 4.14 Sleep–wake disorders
- 4.15 Suicide
- 4.16 Culture-related specific psychiatric syndromes
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry