Introduction to the Special Series on Integrating Personality, Psychopathology, and Psychotherapy Using Interpersonal Assessment

Abstract

The interpersonal paradigm in personality assessment employs multiple models, measures, and methods to examine the interpenetration of personality, psychopathology, and psychotherapy. Its organizing framework is the nomological net of agency and communion, which are fundamental metaconstructs that can be conceptualized and measured at multiple levels ranging from broad interpersonal motives to stable interpersonal dispositions to specific interpersonal behaviors. This Special Series presents diverse research and clinical applications of interpersonal theory and assessment to (a) enhance diagnosis, case conceptualization, and treatment planning; (b) identify developmental catalysts of and current influences on psychopathological symptoms; and (c) articulate different ways in which personality, psychopathology, and psychotherapy are interrelated. Each article demonstrates the integrative nature of interpersonal assessment while concurrently exemplifying the unique assumptions and methods of contemporary interpersonal diagnosis.

Acknowledgments

This Special Series was developed from the symposium, “Integrating Personality, Psychopathology, and Psychotherapy Using Interpersonal Assessment” (A. L. Pincus, Chair), presented at the 2009 Society for Personality Assessment annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois. I thank Greg Meyer and Steve Strack for inviting this Special Series.