Personality dimensions in persons symptomatically at risk of psychosis: pronounced but lacking a characteristic...

Personality dimensions are frequently abnormal in psychosis. We examined if these abnormalities form a personality profile that is characteristic for patients symptomatically at risk of psychosis.

Four higher order personality dimensions were assessed in 104 at-risk patients, 67 clinical and 97 healthy controls with the 'Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology', and analysed by two-step cluster procedure to detect personality profiles. Logistic regression was used to test for predictors of profile assignment.

Low and high scorers were distinguished by two profiles. Patients were more likely high scorers. The presence of clinically relevant depression, though equally frequent in clinical groups, best predicted high scorers among patients.

Though at-risk patients were significantly more often high scorers, this seemed to be a general reflection of the level of psychopathology rather than a group characteristic. Thus, personality dimensions might be of little value for facilitating early detection but might be important to consider in early intervention approaches.