If an Entrepreneur Founded the DSM–5 Alternative Model of Personality Disorder: When Axis II Meets Disruptive Innovation: Comment on Widiger and Hines (2022)

Personality disorder (PD) researchers proposed a highly innovative “paradigm-shifting” revamp for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (APA, 2013). Yet, 10 years later, Widiger and Hines (2022) summarize a developmental process plagued by disagreement and stagnation, with little evidence of the field having reaped the desired benefits of this diagnostic revolution. In this commentary, we draw on principles from entrepreneurial creation, operation, and success—positioning the PD scientists in the role of “disruptive innovator”—and summarize key principles from the entrepreneurial process that may be relevant in understanding the challenges and failures of the PD revolution to date