Personality and personality disorders in the DSM-5: introduction to the special issue

In this introduction to the special section on Personality and Personality Disorders in DSM-5, the editors briefly describe the major changes proposed by the Work Group on Personality Disorders for DSM-5. They then introduce and describe the key points in the target articles by the Work Group as well as in the commentaries. The aim of this section is to present an arena for the articulation and discussion of the rationale of the proposed changes and the logic and evidence for these proposed changes. Special attention is paid to points of contention, debate, and controversy with regard to the proposed changes. It is the editors' goal to facilitate an open discussion of these issues in an effort to promote a scientifically based and clinically useful product.