The Work Group recommends that patients be rated on 6 broad, higher order personality trait domains each comprised of several lower order, more specific trait facets.  The broad trait domains and their definitions are listed below, with the trait facets comprising each domain listed below the domain name. The proposed trait model is in the process of empirical validation.

  Trait levels are assessed on a four-point scale:

Negative Emotionality: Experiences a wide range of negative emotions (e.g., anxiety, depression, guilt/ shame, worry, etc.), and the behavioral and interpersonal manifestations of those experiences

Trait facets:  Emotional lability, anxiousness, submissiveness, separation insecurity, pessimism, low self-esteem, guilt/ shame, self-harm, depressivity, suspiciousness

Introversion: Withdrawal from other people, ranging from intimate relationships to the world at large; restricted affective experience and expression; limited hedonic capacity

Trait facets:  Social withdrawal, social detachment, restricted affectivity, anhedonia, intimacy avoidance

Antagonism: Exhibits diverse manifestations of antipathy toward others, and a correspondingly exaggerated sense of self-importance

Trait facets:  Callousness, manipulativeness, narcissism, histrionism, hostility, aggression, oppositionality, deceitfulness

Disinhibition: Diverse manifestations of being present- (vs. future- or past-) oriented, so that behavior is driven by current internal and external stimuli, rather than by past learning and consideration of future consequences

Trait facets:  Impulsivity, distractibility, recklessness, irresponsibility

Compulsivity: The tendency to think and act according to a narrowly defined and unchanging ideal, and the expectation that this ideal  should be adhered to by everyone

Trait facets:  Perfectionism, perseveration, rigidity, orderliness, risk aversion

Schizotypy: Exhibits a range of odd or unusual behaviors and cognitions, including both process (e.g., perception) and content (e.g., beliefs)

Trait facets:  Unusual perceptions, unusual beliefs, eccentricity, cognitive dysregulation, dissociation proneness

Rationale for a Six-Domain Trait Dimensional Diagnostic System for Personality Disorder