Personality trait domains predict psychiatric symptom and functional outcomes

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology
• Personality Disorders

Background:

• High-intensity, high-dose mentalization-based inpatient treatment shows significant symptom reduction.
• Pathological personality traits may influence baseline symptoms and treatment trajectory.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the impact of pathological personality traits on baseline psychiatric symptoms and functioning.
• To investigate how personality traits affect the longitudinal course of symptoms during inpatient treatment.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) to assess trait domains in 804 adult inpatients.
• Employed hierarchical repeated measures modeling to analyze longitudinal outcomes (anxiety, depression, somatic symptoms, functional impairment).

Main Results:

• Negative Affectivity and Detachment correlated with higher admission severity across all outcome domains.
• Psychoticism linked to somatic symptoms; Antagonism and Disinhibition to functional impairment.
• Paradoxically, higher PID-5 trait scores at admission predicted greater symptom improvement over time.

Conclusions:

• The PID-5 aids in predicting treatment response beyond demographics and illness burden.
• Personality trait impairments do not preclude positive treatment response in psychiatric inpatients.
• Treatments targeting pathological personality features may enhance recovery.