Dimensional models for personality disorders: An unfinished process

Abstract

The conceptualization of personality disorders is going through a paradigm shift process. Obsolete categorical approaches are giving way to dimensional models, which promise a better understanding of this pathology. However, this paradigm shift process is far from being finalized. The discipline experiences a moment of uncertainty, given the need to leave an inefficient model but without having yet a solid alternative one. This paper reviews the main aspects of this process, which includes the questioning of categorical models, the first dimensional approaches, the line of work that emerged from the proposal of the American Psychiatric Association, and the DSM-5's own dimensional proposal, with the criticisms it brought. In addition, we expound on the dimensional proposal of the Big Five Factor Personality Model and its limitations. Finally, we reflect on the state of the art, where the proposal of the "Big Five" and the DSM-5 coexists without reaching a unified model, which should arise from the investigations that are being carried out.