Personality traits in schizophrenia and related personality disorders

• Published in: Psychiatry research Vol. 133; no. 1; pp. 23 - 33
• Main Authors: Camisa, Kathryn M., Bockbrader, Marcia A., Lysaker, Paul, Rae, Lauren L., Brenner, Colleen A., O'Donnell, Brian F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 30.01.2005; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Comorbidity; Diagnosis, Differential; Discriminant Analysis; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Female; Five-factor model; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Models, Psychological; Personality; Personality - classification; Personality Assessment - statistics & numerical data; Personality disorders; Personality Disorders - diagnosis; Personality Disorders - epidemiology; Personality Disorders - psychology; Personality Inventory - statistics & numerical data; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Psychosis; Psychosis-proneness; Psychotic Disorders - diagnosis; Psychotic Disorders - epidemiology; Psychotic Disorders - psychology; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - diagnosis; Schizophrenia - epidemiology; Schizophrenic Psychology; Schizotypy; Psychosis; Psychosis-proneness; Five-factor model; Personality; Schizotypy; Human; Neuroticism; Schizoaffective psychosis; Schizoid personality; Schizophrenia; Nosology; Personality disorder; Differential diagnostic; Paranoid personality; Schizotypal personality; Extraversion introversion; Criterion; Classification; Diagnosis; Comparative study
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2004.09.002

We investigated whether schizophrenia spectrum disorders share common personality characteristics or traits. Participants with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (SZ) or with a schizophrenia spectrum personality disorder (schizophrenia spectrum PD: schizoid, paranoid, and schizotypal personality disorder) were compared with non-psychiatric control subjects on the five-factor model of personality and the psychosis-proneness scales. On the five-factor personality scales, SZ subjects showed higher levels of neuroticism, and lower levels of openness, agreeableness, extraversion, and conscientiousness than control subjects. Higher scores on openness and lower scores on neuroticism distinguished schizophrenia spectrum PD from SZ. On the psychosis-proneness scales, both PD and SZ participants scored high relative to non-psychiatric control participants on magical ideation and perceptual aberration, while PD participants scored intermediate between non-psychiatric control participants and SZ on social anhedonia. Discriminant analysis indicated that schizophrenia spectrum patients could be distinguished from PDs by more severe social withdrawal and maladjustment, while subjects with PDs could be best distinguished from control subjects on the basis of odd or novel ideation and decreased conscientiousness.