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. 2007 Jun 6;16(Suppl 1):S65–S73. doi: 10.1002/mpr.212

Synthesizing dimensional and categorical approaches to personality disorders: refining the research agenda for DSM‐V Axis II

Robert F Krueger 1,✉, Andrew E Skodol 2, W John Livesley 3, Patrick E Shrout 4, Yueqin Huang 5
PMCID: PMC6879081  PMID: 17623397

Abstract

Personality disorder researchers have long considered the utility of dimensional approaches to diagnosis, signaling the need to consider a dimensional approach for personality disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM‐V). Nevertheless, a dimensional approach to personality disorders in DSM‐V is more likely to succeed if it represents an orderly and logical progression from the categorical system in DSM‐IV. With these considerations and opportunities in mind, the authors sought to delineate ways of synthesizing categorical and dimensional approaches to personality disorders that could inform the construction of DSM‐V. This discussion resulted in (1) the idea of having a set of core descriptive elements of personality for DSM‐V, (2) an approach to rating those elements for specific patients, (3) a way of combining those elements into personality disorder prototypes, and (4) a revised conception of personality disorder as a construct separate from personality traits. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: personality disorders, DSM‐V, dimensions, categories

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