This book reviews and advances this innovative and increasingly popular scheme for diagnosing and evaluating personality disorders. The authors identify the multiple clinical, theoretical, and research paradigms that co-exist in the Alternative Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD) and show how the model can aid the practicing mental health professional in evaluating and treating patients as well as its importance in stimulating research and theoretical understanding of this domain. This work explores and summarizes methods of personality assessment and psychiatric evaluation, research findings, and clinical applications of the AMPD, highlighting its usefulness to clinical teaching and supervision, forensic application, and current research. It is a go-to reference for experienced professionals and researchers, those who wish to learn this new diagnostic system, and for clinicians in training. This book offers a unique and accessible approach to this vital and frequently poorly practiced aspect of medicine. It addresses the change in practice where traditional doctor consultations are increasingly being done by other health professionals, including nurse practitioners and paramedics. It reflects the dissolution of the primary/secondary care boundary, and the increasing importance of shared responsibility for patient communication in clinical and social care. The volume covers the new types of consultation including telephone triage and virtual consultation and the associated risks and benefits and retains all the features praised in previous editions brevity, readability, and humor