Schizophrenia and personality: exploring the boundaries and connections between vulnerability and outcome

This article discusses the issues and evidence concerning the relationship between schizophrenia and personality. We examine personality dimensions in individuals with schizophrenia, both before and after the onset of their psychoses, and in their relatives. Schizophrenia is associated with high levels of peculiarity and neuroticism and with low levels of extraversion. The relationships between schizophrenia and both psychopathy and creativity remain unclear. Personality dimensions vary in the manner in which they are associated with a variety of correlates of psychopathology, such as prognosis. We recommend that psychopathologists interested in schizophrenia devote more attention to the study of personality.