Personality Assessment in Neuropsychological Settings

Abstract This chapter discusses the importance of personality assessment in neuropsychological settings (e.g., to establish the contribution of psychopathology to symptom presentation). The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) transdiagnostic and dimensional model of psychopathology is emerging as a helpful paradigm guiding the practice of personality assessment with neuropsychiatric patients. The chapter discusses (a) the roles of personality assessment in the neuropsychology clinic; (b) potential implications of the HiTOP model of conceptualizing psychopathology on conducting personality assessment as part of neuropsychological assessment; (c) the advantages of using a multimethod approach in assessment (e.g., self-report and implicit personality measures; maximal and typical performance measures); (d) the research with the Personality Assessment Inventory clinical scales in acquired brain injuries; and (e) research with the Rorschach Inkblot Test in assessing alexithymia in patients with chronic pain and psychosis.