Other and unspecified personality disorders

For the diagnosis of personality disorders, diagnostic frameworks such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) have residual diagnostic categories for diagnosis of conditions which do not align well with specific PD diagnoses or for situations where information is lacking.

The DSM-5 defines two personality disorder diagnoses, namely Other specified personality disorder and Unspecified personality disorder, along with Personality change due to another medical condition under Other personality disorders. The ICD-10 also contains similar categories, namely, Other specific personality disorder and Personality disorder, unspecified.

Additionally, in the Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders, the DSM-5 introduced the diagnosis Personality disorder - trait specified (PD-TS) as an alternative to let clinicians define the presentation in detail, in terms of "impairment of personality functioning" and "pathological personality traits".

Personality disorder not otherwise specified (PD-NOS) was a subclinical diagnostic classification for some DSM-IV Axis II personality disorders not listed in DSM-IV. The DSM-5 transitioned from NOS diagnoses to other specified and unspecified in order to "enhance diagnostic specificity". The diagnoses in the DSM-5 are not direct equivalents to PD-NOS.

In all cases of non-specific diagnoses it is a requirement that the person meet the general criteria for personality disorders.

The ICD-10 defines the diagnosis Other specific personality disorder (F60.8) for personality disorders that don't have a separate code. This diagnosis allows the following type specifiers: "eccentric", "haltlose", "immature", "narcissistic", "passive-aggressive", and "psychoneurotic". The DSM-5 contains the similarly named diagnosis Other Specified Personality Disorder (301.89; F60.89), which is used when recording the presence of personality disorder along with the reasons for the condition not being classified as one of the specific personality disorders.

The ICD-10 contains Personality disorder, unspecified (F60.9) for general personality disorder diagnoses. The DSM-5 diagnosis of Unspecified Personality Disorder (301.9; F60.9) is, according to the DSM-5, used when a patient presents with personality disorder symptoms that cause distress or impairment, but the clinician either chooses not to indicate the specific reason these criteria are not met for any one disorder, or there isn’t enough information available to make a more precise diagnosis.

This diagnosis was part of the DSM-IV-TR, and could be assigned when no other personality disorder in the DSM fit the patient's symptoms. This diagnosis is not included in subsequent (DSM-5 and DSM-5-TR) editions of the DSM. The DSM-IV-TR excluded four personality disorders, but this diagnosis may be used instead. The four excluded personality disorders are: