Identify and explain features in the primary offender that are consistent with Cluster A personalities.

Jim, a 48-year-old engineer, works at a medium-size engineering firm. He has been employed
with the firm for 16 years. He is described by co-workers as serious and thin-skinned, having no
sense of humor, and distrusting of others. He lives alone, does not socialize with his neighbors,
and often engages in angry accusations of something the neighbors or their children did that
caused him distress or offended him in some way. He holds grudges forever, seemingly holding
on to every real or perceived slight he has ever experienced. Jim is constantly writing letters to
the utility company, city officials, and his congressional leaders about the injustices constantly
inflicted upon him.

 

• Ackley, C., Mack, S., Beyer, K., & Erdberg, P. (2010). Investigative and forensic interviewing: A personality-focused approach. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
  • Chapter 7, "The Paranoid Personality" (pp. 125-142)
  • Chapter 8, "The Schizotypal Personality" (pp. 143-162)

 

• Esterberg, M. L., Goulding, S. M., & Walker, E. F. (2010). Cluster A personality disorders: Schizotypal, schizoid and paranoid personality disorders in childhood and adolescence.Links to an external site. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 32(4), 515-528.

 

• Lenzenweger, M. F., Lane, M. C., Loranger, A. W., & Kessler, R. C. (2007). DSM-IV personality disorders in the national comorbidity survey replication.Links to an external site. Biological Psychiatry, 62(6), 553-564. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2044500/