Pathological personality traits intensity variation according to ICD-11 within general population and clinical groups

The article presents a study aiming to verify the intensification of personality disorder traits described in the ICD-11 classification in three groups with varying severities of mental health problems.

The study was conducted in three groups differing in the severity of mental health problems: (1) a sample from the general population (N = 328; 61% women, M = 39.80; SD = 12.11); (2) a sample of people using psychotherapy or psychiatric consultations (N = 132; 68.2% women, M = 29.10; SD = 1.05); (3) a sample of people hospitalized in departments for the treatment of a personality disorder (N = 76; 76.3% women, M = 24.18; SD = 1.12). The intensification of pathological personality traits was measured using the Polish adaptation of the PiCD Questionnaire.

The results basically confirmed the expected trend that as the severity of mental health problems increases, the intensity of pathological personality trait-domains also increases. A statistically significant trend was observed in the case of four trait-domains: "Negative Affectivity", "Detachment", "Dissociality", and "Disinhibition", with the largest effect observed in "Negative Affectivity". In the case of "Anankastia", the expected trend was not confirmed.

The obtained results confirm the theoretical and clinical usefulness of the dimensional model of personality disorders proposed in ICD-11, simultaneously noting the need for further research on the specificity of "Anankastia".