Personality disorders at the crossroads

Personality disorders are now at a crossroads with respect to theory, research, and conceptualization. In this article, we review relevant and current issues within the personality disorder field. After reviewing changes in the conception of personality disorders across the past half century (1952 to 2002), we focus on the issue of continuity versus discontinuity methodologies for assessing personality, interactionism, treatments, resolved and unresolved issues, and future directions. The issue of continuity versus discontinuity is a theme in this article. We conclude that the evidence is in favor of a reapprochment between a categorical classification system and a dimensional system and we also outline the difficulties in achieving this change.