Personality Traits and Psychopathology Over the Course of Six Months of Outpatient Psychotherapy: A Prospective Observational Study

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Michael P. Hengartner¹  Agnes von Wyl¹  Barbara Heiniger Haldimann²  Misa Yamanaka-Altenstein² 

[1] Department of Applied Psychology, Zurich University of Applied Sciences;Klaus-Grawe-Institute for Psychological Therapy

关键词: psychotherapy;    personality;    psychopathology;    neuroticism;    conscientiousness;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00174

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

There is a lack of prospective studies that test pre-specified hypotheses on the role of personality traits in outpatient psychotherapy. A total of 47 patients with a broad range of psychopathological syndromes were enrolled in a prospective 6-month observational study conducted in Zurich, Switzerland. We found evidence for remarkably high differential stability in all Big Five personality traits during the first 6 months of psychotherapy. Mean-level stability was very high in agreeableness and conscientiousness, while modest changes were observed in neuroticism, extraversion and openness. Baseline scores in neuroticism and conscientiousness at the beginning of therapy predicted modest change in self-reported severity of psychopathology over 6 months, but no effect was found in association with therapist-rated functional deficits. We conclude that personality trait levels may change slightly over the course of 6 months of psychotherapy and that both neuroticism and conscientiousness may have weak associations with the self-perceived improvement in psychopathology.

【 授权许可】

CC BY