Personality disorder: a challenge for the future.

Young persons with life long pattern of maladaptive behaviour present to the health and social services with multiple disabilities. These include suicidal behaviours, drug abuse (alcohol and opiates), VA, motorvehicle accidents, repeated failure of close personal relationship (including marriage), job failure, repeated delinquency, criminal violence (including battering babies), and failure to cooperate with medical care. Conspicuous parental discord is the major causal influence, thus explaining transmission to successive generations. Regarding marital disharmony as a major public health hazard may diminish expensive human misery and reduce crime.