Quantitative methods in psychiatric classification: the path forward is clear but complex: commentary on Krueger and Eaton (2010)

Comments on the original article Personality traits and the classification of mental Disorders: Toward a more complete integration in DSM-5 and an empirical model of psychopathology by Robert F. Krueger and Nicholas R. Eaton (see record 2010-13810-003). Krueger and Eaton (pp. 97-118, this issue) have provided a trenchant argument for greater use of dimensional approaches in the classification of personality disorders (PDs) in future iterations of the psychiatric nomenclature, and their explication of the importance of personality constructs in models of psychopathology more generally is commendably lucid. We agree that the division of PDs in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) into 10 categorical diagnoses with arbitrary thresholds does not match existing data and requires significant retooling, and we view the inclusion of dimensional traits as an important component of the provisional Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) proposal.