This special issue of the Journal of Personality Assessment brings together 3 review articles and 5 research studies on personality assessment in medical settings that should help clinicians become more familiar with the current status of this field. In 1 review article, Sirri, Fabbri, Fava, and Sonino (2007/this issue) summarize evidence of a new approach to the assessment of psychological syndromes in somatizing patients based on the Diagnostic Criteria for Psychosomatic Research (Fava et al., 1995 Fava, G. A., Freyberger, H. J., Bech, P., Christodoulou, G., Sensky, T.Theorell, T. 1995. Diagnostic criteria for use in psychosomatic research. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics., 63: 1–8. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The other reviews focus on 2 personality constructs widely used in investigations with medical patients. Kupper and Denollet (2007/this issue) review the Type D personality, whereas Lumley, Neely, and Burger (2007/this issue) provide an overview of alexithymia. Of the research articles, 2 also focus on alexithymia, specifically on the factor structure of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (Bagby, Parker, & Taylor, 1994 Bagby, R. M., Parker, J. D. A. and Taylor, G. J. 1994. The twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale: I. Item selection and cross-validation of the factor structure. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 38: 23–32. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), which is the best-validated and most commonly used measure of alexithymia (Bagby, Taylor, Quilty, & Parker, 2007 Bagby, R. M., Taylor, G. J., Quilty, L. C. and Parker, J. D. A. 2007. Reexamining the factor structure of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale: Commentary on Gignac, Palmer, and Stough. Journal of Personality Assessment, 89: 258–264. this issue[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]/this issue; Gignac, Palmer, & Stough, 2007 Gignac, G. E., Palmer, B. R. and Stough, C. 2007. A confirmatory factor analytic investigation of the TAS–20: Corroboration of a Five-factor model and suggestions for improvement. Journal of Personality Assessment, 89: 247–257. this issue[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]/this issue). The other 3 research studies examine the relationship between specific personality dimensions (behavioral problems relevant to medicine, resiliency, and interpersonal sensitivity) and medical outcomes (adherence to treatment, coping with injury, and postsurgical sexual functioning) from medical samples of patients with HIV, spinal cord injury, and prostate carcinoma (Berry, Elliott, & Rivera, 2007 Berry, J. W., Elliott, T. R. and Rivera, P. 2007. Resilient, undercontrolled, and overcontrolled personality prototypes among persons with spinal cord injury. Journal of Personality Assessment, 89: 292–302. this issue[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]/this issue; Cruess, Meagher, Antoni, & Millon, 2007/this issue; Siegel et al., 2007/this issue). Each article touches on the role person variables can play in the expression of medical problems.