OBJECTIVE: This study had the objective of reviewing, in the literature, the diagnostic criteria and the intervention in personality disorders, Antisocial and Borderline types. METHODS: A manual research was performed in the author's private collection of books, selecting 12 references; other research has been systematically developed in the period 1990-2008, in January 2009, in the Virtual Health Library, selecting 23 papers. RESULTS: Our findings indicated two approaches - one that classifies as an illness, but that needs to review the diagnostic criteria and evaluation, and the second, that classifies them as moral problems. CONCLUSION: Regardless the type of approach, is necessary that nurses enhance their knowledge and understand the difficulty of this subject to relate properly with others; thus, it is crucial that members of the healthcare team examine their feelings, attitudes and reactions related to the client's behavior, since the relationship with this type of customer is considered one of the most complex in the mental health field.
Personality disorders; Diagnosis; Evaluation; Morals; Psychiatric nursing