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Mental health treatment improves personality

Recent findings suggest psychotherapy and pharmacological treatment can cause changes in personality traits.

“This really is definitive evidence that the idea that personality doesn't change is wrong,” Brent W. Roberts, PhD, of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, said in a press release. “We’re not saying personality dramatically reorganizes itself. You're not taking an introvert and making them into an extravert. But this reveals that personality does develop and it can be developed.”

Brent W. Roberts

To assess changes in personality associated with psychotherapy or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, researchers analyzed 207 studies on personality changes during interventions among 20,024 participants with a mean age of 36.04 years. Average intervention duration was 24 weeks.

Emotional stability exhibited the most improvement due to therapy, followed by extraversion.

Therapy type was not strongly associated with the amount of personality change.

Individuals who presented with anxiety disorders exhibited the most change in personality traits, while those with substance use disorders exhibited the least change.

“In about 50 of the studies, the researchers tracked the people down well past the end of the therapeutic situation, and they seemed to have held onto the changes, which is nice,” Roberts said in the release. “So, it's not a situation where the therapist is just affecting your mood. It appears that you get a long-term benefit.” – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosure: Please see the study for a full list of relevant financial disclosures.