Book Synopsis
John M. Oldham, M.D., developer of the book The New Personality Self‐Portrait: Why
You Think, Work, Love and Act the Way You Do, served on the advisory committee to
revise the personality disorder diagnoses for the DSM‐iii‐R. He also participated in the
development of the personality disorder examination (PDE), which reliably establishes
the DSM personality disorder diagnoses.
The principles inherent in the DSM and the PDE form the foundation for the
personality style system and the personality self‐portrait test that is presented in
Oldham’s book.
His book, which he co‐authored with Lois B. Morris, beautifully explains the fourteen
personality styles, which they describe as the common, healthy versions of the
extreme, disordered patterns identified in the DSM.
Their belief is that the personality disorders are but extremes of normal human
patterns, the “stuff” of which human personality is made of. Whereas the DSM
identifies categories of disorder, the purpose of their test is to desc