Where is multidimensional perfectionism in DSM-5? A question posed to the DSM-5 personality and personality disorders...

A radical reworking of Axis II has been proposed for the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders whereby personality disorder categories will be replaced by a trait dimensional model of personality pathology. Perfectionism is specified as a lower order facet of Compulsivity within this proposed model. This marginalization of the perfectionism construct is inconsistent with the empirical literature that suggests that perfectionism is an important dimension of maladaptive personality in its own right, complete with its own set of more specific lower order facets. Further, perfectionism in the current proposed system is relevant only to the characterization of the obsessive-compulsive personality disorder type, despite compelling empirical research that demonstrates that various dimensions of perfectionism are differentially associated with personality pathology of all kinds. The present article reviews existing research on the role of various dimensions of perfectionism in personality disorder, highlights these seemingly ignored areas of the perfectionism literature, and discusses the problems and consequences that will arise if perfectionism continues to be defined narrowly and is largely excluded from dimensional models of personality pathology.