The role of personality traits in influencing diagnostic outcomes

Abstract

The global toll of mental illness is broad and far-reaching, affecting individuals, families, communities and society as a whole. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that approximately one in four people worldwide will be affected by a mental health problem in their lifetime. Some diagnoses do not have long-term stability. Considering the possibility of multiple co-existing psychiatric disorders when confronting a patient, it can therefore be assumed that the change in the patient’s diagnosis is not a change in the disease, but rather a change in one of the features of the assessed disorder. A high value of this feature will manifest as a certain disease, and a low value will manifest as another disease. There has been a great deal of academic research showing a strong link between personality traits and mental illnesses, specifically in terms of how different mental illnesses are characterized by different personality types. The change in diagnosis can lead to changes in treatment. However, it would be helpful if personality traits could be mapped to the possible traits of the mental illness at the outset, to identify possible trends in the patient’s condition and to provide more individualized and precise treatment. So the aim of this paper is to expound the possibilities and reasons for the occurrence of changes in psychodiagnostics findings in order to set the basis for discussion, and to point out the continuity and relevance of personality traits and mental disorders by means of several psychological models.