Formalising and Testing Kernberg's Theory of Personality Organisation

In this paper, I formalize Kernberg’s theory of ‘personality organisation’ using a (non-linear) latent manifold model. Under this model, personality pathology is conceptualized as a general dimension of severity that defines the coordinates under which particular personality organisations live. After illustrating how this model operates, I test it against dominant alternatives (i.e., bifactor modeling), showing that it accounts for a set of clinical data better than those alternative models. I then also test three assumptions from Kernberg’s theory (e.g., that the neurotic, borderline, and psychotic personality organisations lie on a continuum of severity), finding moderate-to-strong support for each. Finally, I conclude the paper by suggesting that personality functioning may be best understood as a coordinate system that defines how all mental health problems are organized; while ‘personality’ disorders may be best viewed as ‘character’ or ‘object relational’ disorders that live within the specific borderline level of personality functioning.