Editorial: What's in a Name? The Importance of Adolescent Personality Pathology for Adaptive Psychosocial Function

An impressive surge in research supporting a shift to a dimensional organization of psychopathology has occurred over the last two decades. This has culminated in recent calls for the abolishment of the categorical diagnostic system in favor of a quantitative classification system for psychopathology.¹ The use of diagnostic constructs such as borderline personality disorder (BPD), and perhaps even the concept of personality pathology itself, may disappear from such nosological systems and be redefined in terms of internalizing-externalizing-psychoticism spectra. Indeed, the original International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision (ICD-11) proposal eliminated the traditional 10 personality disorders and introduced a definition of personality disorder based on severity rather than type.² It may therefore be argued that the study conducted by Wertz et al.,³ which focuses on borderline personality disorder, is out of step with current trends in psychiatric nosology. Moreover, Wertz and colleagues focus on adolescents-a developmental period often characterized as inappropriate for the diagnosis and treatment of personality disorder. On the contrary, this editorial will argue that Wertz et al.³ make a timely and important contribution by highlighting the importance of adolescent personality pathology for prospective psychosocial function.