Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 21: 225–226 (2011)DOI: 10.1002/cbm

Book review

Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health21: 225–226 (2011)Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/cbm.766

Personality, Personality Disorder and Violence

Edited by Mary McMurran and Richard Howard. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, 2009, 340pp. Hardback, ISBN 978-0-470-05948-7, US$179.

Part of a series in forensic clinical psychology, this book aims to ‘take an evidence-based look at personality traits and types of psychological functioning that may contribute to personality disorder and violence and the connections that lie between them’. It examines which aspects of personality disorder relate to vio-lence and the nature of that relationship, as well as considering the implications for clinical practice.

Contributors come from the UK, the USA and Canada and from several disciplines. They provide clinical and academic perspectives, and include leading researchers in the fi eld. The editors contribute an introduction and conclusion, and the main content is separated into three parts: Part 1, ‘Traits’; Part 2, ‘Affect’; and Part 3, ‘Cognition’.

Chapter 2 of the introduction specifi cally examines the concept of dangerous and severe personality disorder (DSPD) and aims of the DSPD programme. It considers the ‘functional link’ of causality between personality disorder and violence, which is required for an individual to be treated in a DSPD unit in England.

The ‘Traits’ section includes a useful systematic review of the relationship between childhood impulsiveness and violence. This section also contains chap-ters on predictive personality theory, narcissistic personality, psychopathy sub-types and the group of individuals with antisocial personality disorder who do not meet criteria for psychopathy.

The broad range of topics under ‘Affect’ include neurobiology of affective self-control, a consideration of anger and the role of attachment diffi culties. There are two separate chapters that consider empathy. Blair’s chapter provides a clear review of emotional processing defi cits in psychopathy and explores neurocogni-tive models and evidence for defi cits in particular brain regions. Marshall et al. consider psychological models of empathy, defi cits in different types of offenders, and suggestions for therapeutic work on empathy improvement.

Book review

Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 21: 225–226 (2011)DOI: 10.1002/cbm

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The fi nal section, ‘Cognition’, considers cognitive defi cits in psychopathy, the role of social problem-solving in personality disorder and violence, and a chapter on criminal thinking.

Each chapter dutifully considers treatment at its end, although this is often brief. Most provide suggestions for the development of treatments, giving an impression that there is little evidence for effective treatment at present but that there is potential for the future.

This book provides a review of current research in the broad and complex area of personality disorder and its relationship with violence very well. The chapters are all of interest. They read as individual papers, differing markedly in perspective, models used and subject matter considered. Some authors consider all personality disorder, some particular types only, and some psychopathy alone. The overall effect can be a little bewildering as there is no consensus. Instead, the reader is informed of how many unanswered but fascinating questions there are in this area.

Dr Louise RobinsonClinical Lecturer in Forensic PsychiatryEdinburgh University, Edinburgh, UK.