In contemporary law practice, particularly in litigation, the expert witness in psychology — psychiatrists, forensic psychologists, psychotherapists and so on — increasingly is a member of the teams on opposite sides of a courtroom. Litigators need at least a passing sense of some of the language used by experts in this field.

One psychological concept about which trial lawyers may hear quite a bit is that of the personality disorder. The American Psychiatric Association identifies a number of such disorders in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, but those that seem to rise to the highest level of awareness for the lawyer are antisocial, borderline and narcissistic personality disorders. Before briefly summarizing what lawyers should know about each, it’s worth considering what a personality disorder is.

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