Personality disorders are psychiatric disorders characterized by chronic patterns of inner experience and behavior that are inflexible and present across a broad range of situations. They have a marked impact on patients’ interpersonal relationships, and social and occupational functioning, and can lead to problematic interactions in the medical setting. By definition, the symptoms of personality disorders cannot be caused by a major psychiatric disorder as diagnosed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed. (DSM-IV), axis I,1 a medical disorder, or the effects of a substance. These disorders are coded on DSM-IV axis II, which is used to record personality disorders, personality traits, and mental retardation. This separate axis exists to ensure that appropriate attention is paid to these clinically significant disorders when a comprehensive psychiatric assessment is performed (Table 1).1