The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition Alternative Model of Personality Disorder

The fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) includes within a section for emerging measures and models an alternative model of personality disorder (AMPD). This article provides a brief overview of its development, noting, in particular, issues and controversies. The article concludes with a discussion of and recommendations for further research in regard to 8 issues: (a) whether the DSM-5 AMPD offers any incremental validity over DSM-IV with respect to the validity or clinical utility; (b) development of the treatment implications for the AMPD components; (c) whether the DSM-5 AMPD level of personality functioning (LPF) is a unitary construct; (d) whether the LPF does in fact identify the core of personality disorder, (e) whether the LPF is even necessary; a) whether the AMPD trait model is sufficiently comprehensive in its coverage; (g) the synchronization of International Classification of Diseases, Eleventh Revision, and DSM-5 Section III; and (h) whether the future classification of personality disorder should continue to include any of the DSM-IV syndromes.