In personality pathology, dimensional models of personality disorders (also known as the dimensional approach to personality disorders, dimensional classification, and dimensional assessments) conceptualize personality disorders as quantitatively rather than qualitatively different from normal personality. They consist of extreme, maladaptive levels of certain personality characteristics (these characteristics are commonly described as facets within broader personality factors or traits). Within the context of personality psychology, a "dimension" refers to a continuum on which an individual can have various levels of a characteristic, in contrast to the dichotomous categorical approach in which an individual does or does not possess a characteristic. According to dimensional models person