Top scholars in psychological science present state-of-the-art thinking on personality disorders and developmental psychopathology in two new books edited by Cornell University clinical psychologist and psychopathology researcher Mark F. Lenzenweger: Major Theories of Personality Disorder and Frontiers of Developmental Psychopathology

In Major Theories of Personality Disorder (Guilford Press, 1996), Lenzenweger and John F. Clarkin edited a 402-page volume that includes in-depth views on the fundamental nature and organization of personality pathology from various theoretical perspectives. Lenzenweger is an associate professor of psychology in psychiatry at the Cornell University Medical College in New York City and of human development and family studies at Cornell's Ithaca campus. Clarkin is a professor of clinical psychology in psychiatry at the Cornell University Medical College.

Personality disorders are severe and debilitating forms of mental illness, and they are relatively common in the population. Because previous books have not addressed theoretical issues, Lenzenweger and Clarkin assembled Major Theories of Personality Disorder which presents the leading theoretical models of personality disorder and is the first volume of its kind.

The book opens with a chapter by the two editors on historical, research and classification issues. Five succeeding chapters discuss theories of personality disorder from the cognitive-behavioral, psychoanalytic, interpersonal, evolutionary/ecological and neurobiological perspectives. They were contributed by well-known psychologists and psychiatrists, including Aaron Beck, Otto Kernberg, Theodore Millon, Lorna Benjamin and Richard Depue.

In Frontiers of Developmental Psychopathology (Oxford University Press, 1996), Lenzenweger was assisted by Jeffrey J. Haugaard, assistant professor of human development and family studies and also a clinical psychologist at Cornell, in editing a collection of position papers from senior researchers in the field to discuss the future direction of this emerging sub-discipline of psychological science.

"Developmental psychopathology has reached a turning point," Lenzenweger said. "It barely existed in 1974 and since then has largely been explored from psychosocial perspectives."

He maintains that genetic influences, neurobiological systems and brain development must be further explored to better understand those mental illnesses that pose major public health concerns, such as autism, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, depression, antisocial personality, eating disorders and others.

Stemming from a conference at Cornell in 1993, the book presents views on various severe and complex psychopathologies within a developmental framework with an eye toward the future.

Comprised of seven chapters, the book covers the extent to which developmental psychopathology is heritable and how this heritablility plays itself out in a developmental course; the role of neurobiology and environmental interactions in determining developmental psychopathology; a developmental model for early onset delinquency; markers and developmental processes for schizophrenia; developmental psychopathology in adolescence; and behavior research in childhood autism. The 241-page book concludes with a chapter on the concepts and prospects of developmental psychopathology written by Sir Michael Rutter, the world's leading scientist in developmental psychopathology.

Lenzenweger, also director of the Laboratory of Experimental Psychopathology at Cornell, focuses his research on models of severe psychopathology, personality disorders and personality, and the experimental psychopathology of schizophrenia and schizotypic states. At Cornell, he teaches abnormal psychology and advanced experimental psychopathology. Haugaard teaches courses in family studies.

Both books are intended for scientists and students as well as clinicians interested in a scientific understanding of psychopathology. They are fully referenced and indexed.