If personality disorder is just maladaptive traits, there is no such thing as personality disorder

Empirical associations between personality traits and personality disorders are similar to associations between personality traits and other common disorders, and personality disorders are not substantially more stable than other kinds of disorders but they are somewhat less stable than traits. As such, personality disorders cannot offer a means for distinguishing personality disorders from other kinds of disorders, and proposals that traits alone can be used to diagnose personality disorders logically amount to an assertion that personality disorders should be abandoned as a separate class of psychopathology. There are two alternatives that would preserve personality disorders. The first, taken by the DSM-5 alternative model, is to use a developmental continuum rooted in psychodynamic theory to define personality disorder. The second, more practical solution, is to define personality disorders in terms of clinically salient interpersonal problems that mark the likelihood of treatment challenges.