scholarly journals A Multilevel Approach to Explore the Wandering Mind and Its Connections with Mindfulness and Personality

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 125
Author(s):  
Damiano Cantone ◽  
Susanna Feruglio ◽  
Cristiano Crescentini ◽  
Sabrina Cinot ◽  
Alessio Matiz
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Free Association ◽  
Temperament And Character Inventory ◽  
Multilevel Approach ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Association Task ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Character Inventory ◽  
Thought Probes ◽  
Qualitative Characteristics

We propose an innovative approach to study Mind Wandering (MW), and we present an application of this methodology to study the effects of a Mindfulness-Oriented Meditation (MOM) training. We assessed individuals’ MW through a free association task and an attentional task with thought-probes combined with a questionnaire for the phenomenological characteristic of each MW episode. We used the Temperament and Character Inventory to assess participants’ personality traits and their associations with measures of MW. Our study was limited by the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and only nine healthy young individuals completed the testing sessions, which were carried out before and after the MOM training. After MOM, participants showed fewer repetitive and self-relevant thoughts and indices of better performance in the attentional task; the linguistic analysis of participants’ free associations showed lower verbal productivity and a decrease in utterances that expressed anxiety/stress. Overall, we foresee that future studies could replicate our preliminary findings with larger samples and in a period without a global health emergency. This multilevel approach to the study of MW may allow researchers to gain a broader view of the phenomenon, considering its occurrence, qualitative characteristics, impact on cognitive tasks, malleability via mindfulness or other psychological interventions, and relations with personality traits.

scholarly journals Personality traits and treatment outcome in obsessive-compulsive disorder

2008 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 246-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe Corchs ◽  
Fábio Corregiari ◽  
Ygor Arzeno Ferrão ◽  
Tania Takakura ◽  
Maria Eugênia Mathis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Outcome ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors ◽  
Behavioral Therapy ◽  
Temperament And Character Inventory ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Scale Scores ◽  
Character Inventory ◽  
Poor Treatment

OBJECTIVE: Comorbidity with personality disorders in obsessive-compulsive patients has been widely reported. About 40% of obsessive-compulsive patients do not respond to first line treatments. Nevertheless, there are no direct comparisons of personality traits between treatment-responsive and non-responsive patients. This study investigates differences in personality traits based on Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory scores between two groups of obsessive-compulsive patients classified according to treatment outcome: responders and non-responders. METHOD: Forty-four responsive and forty-five non-responsive obsessive-compulsive patients were selected. Subjects were considered treatment-responsive (responder group) if, after having received treatment with any conventional therapy, they had presented at least a 40% decrease in the initial Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale score, had rated "better" or "much better" on the Clinical Global Impressions scale; and had maintained improvement for at least one year. Non-responders were patients who did not achieve at least a 25% reduction in Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale scores and had less than minimal improvement on the Clinical Global Impressions scale after having received treatment with at least three selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (including clomipramine), and at least 20 hours of cognitive behavioral therapy. Personality traits were assessed using Temperament and Character Inventory. RESULTS: Non-responders scored lower in self-directedness and showed a trend to score higher in persistence than responders did. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that personality traits, especially self-directedness, are associated with poor treatment response in obsessive-compulsive patients.

Differences in Personality Traits Evaluated by TCI According to Physical Illness

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
S. Al-Halabí ◽  
R. Herrero ◽  
E.M. Díaz-Mesa ◽  
M.T. Bascarán ◽  
M. Bousoño ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Clinical Data ◽  
Social Acceptance ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Physical Illness ◽  
Northern Spain ◽  
Temperament And Character Inventory ◽  
Character Inventory ◽  
Dsm Iv ◽  
Psychiatric Population

Aim:To identify differences in personality traits (temperament and character) using Cloninger's typology according to the presence of physical illness (WONCA criteria).Method:404 subjects, without psychiatric pathology, from Asturias (Northern Spain) were included in the study [50% men; mean age (SD)= 40.5 (11.3)]. Assessments were made using an ad hoc interview (socio-demographic and clinical data), and the Spanish versions of the MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview (DSM-IV criteria) (Sheehan et al., 1997), and the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) (Cloninger et al., 1994).Results:154 (38.1%) subjects have at least one diagnosis of physical illness. Subjects with physical illness scored significantly higher in: i) temperament scales: harm avoindance (HA) (17.02 vs 15.76, t= -1.968; p= 0.050); fatigability and asthenia (HA4) (3.56 vs 2.82, t= -3.652; p< 0.000), ii) character scales: transpersonal (ST2) (3.91 vs 3.26, t= -2.900; p= 0.004). However, they scored significantly lower in: i) temperament scales: attachment (RD3) (5.18 vs 5.70, t= 2.346; p= 0.019), ii) character scales: responsibility (SD1) (5.57 vs 5.96, t= 1.984; p=0.048); purposeful (SD2) (5.43 vs 5.84, t= 2.092; p= 0.037); cooperativeness (C) (31.52 vs 33.26, t= 3.166; p< 0.000); social acceptance (C1) (6.50 vs 6.89, t= 2.536; p= 0.012); empathy (C2) (4.81 vs 5.18, t= 2.484; p= 0.013); compassion (C4) (7.44 vs 7.94, t= 2.190; p= 0.019); pure-hearted (C5) (6.55 vs 7.06, t= 3.225; p= 0.001). No other significant differences were found between the groups.Conclusions:Our data suggest that physical illness might influence personality traits in non-psychiatric population.

scholarly journals Personality Characteristics as Predictive Factors for the Occurrence of Depressive Disorder

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stojan Bajraktarov ◽  
Dance Gudeva-Nikovska ◽  
Nensi Manuševa ◽  
Slavica Arsova
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Disorder ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Predictive Factors ◽  
Psychiatric Clinic ◽  
Temperament And Character Inventory ◽  
Personal Traits ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Character Inventory ◽  
The University ◽  
Control Study

BACKGROUND: The depressive disorder is one of the most frequent mental disorders, which is often associated with severe dysfunctionality. Personality traits are considered as important factors for the occurrence of depressive disorder.AIM: To determine the specificity of personality dimensions as predictive factors of depressive disorder.METHODS: This research was conducted at the University Psychiatric Clinic Skopje as a "case-control" study. TCI-R (temperament and character inventory – revised) was used as the main research instrument.RESULTS: There are specific personality traits expressed through high scores of Harm Avoidance and low scores of Self –Directedness traits as predictive factors related to an incidence of the depressive disorder.CONCLUSION: The results of this study show that certain personal traits, and more specific HA and SD, are with a specific predictability of the depressive disorder.

New evidence for a pain personality? A critical review of the last 120 years of pain and personality

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brooke Naylor ◽  
Simon Boag ◽  
Sylvia Maria Gustin
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Pain ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Harm Avoidance ◽  
Vicious Cycle ◽  
Fear Avoidance ◽  
Temperament And Character Inventory ◽  
The Past ◽  
Character Inventory ◽  
Personality Features ◽  
New Evidence

AbstractBackgroundPersonality traits may influence development and adjustment to ongoing pain. Over the past 120 years, there has been considerable research into the relationship between pain and personality. This paper presents new evidence for common personality traits found amongst chronic pain sufferers. In particular, it evaluates evidence for Cloninger’s biopsychosocial model of personality in distinguishing typical personality features of chronic pain sufferers. It evaluates this evidence in the context of the past 120 years of research including psychodynamic formulations, MMPI studies, personality disorder investigations, and the influence of neuroticism on chronic pain.MethodsA literature search was conducted using PubMed, Medline, PsyclNFO, SCOPUS and Cochrane library. Search terms included chronic pain, pain, personality, neuroticism, harm avoidance, self-directedness, attachment, Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI-R), MMPI, MMPI-2, NEO-PI, EPI, Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, Millon Behavioral Health Inventory, Millon Behavioral Medicine Diagnostic, the Personality Assessment Inventory, the Locus of Control Construct and different combinations of these terms.ConclusionsRecent descriptive studies using Cloninger’s Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI-R) suggest that higher harm avoidance and lower self-directedness may be the most distinguishing personality features of chronic pain sufferers. High harm avoidance refers to a tendency to be fearful, pessimistic, sensitive to criticism, and requiring high levels of re-assurance. Low self-directedness often manifests as difficulty with defining and setting meaningful goals, low motivation, and problems with adaptive coping. Evidence for this personality profile is found across a wide variety of chronic pain conditions including fibromyalgia, headache and migraine, temporomandibular disorder, trigeminal neuropathy, musculo-skeletal disorders and heterogeneous pain groups. Limitations are also discussed. For example, high harm avoidance is also found in those suffering anxiety and depression. While many studies control for such factors, some do not and thus future research should address such confounds carefully. The evidence is also evaluated within the context of past research into the existence of ‘a pain personality’. Psychodynamic formulations are found to be deficient in objective scientific methods. MMPI studies lack sufficient evidence to support ‘a pain personality’ and may be confounded by somatic items in the instrument. More recent neuroticism studies suggest a relationship between neuroticism and pain, particularly for adjustment to chronic pain. Personality disorders are more prevalent in chronic pain populations than non-pain samples.Clinical implicationsBecause harm avoidance reflects a tendency to developed conditioned fear responses, we suggest that higher harm avoidance may create more vulnerability to developing a fear-avoidance response to chronic pain. Furthermore, lower self-directedness may contribute to keeping a sufferer within this vicious cycle of fear, avoidance and suffering. Moreover, we suggest that harm avoidance and self-directedness are broader and more complex constructs than current clinical targets of CBT such as fear-avoidance and self-efficacy. Thus, assessing such personality traits may help to address the complexity of chronic pain presentations. For example, it may help to identify and treat sufferers more resistant to treatment, more prone to comorbidity and more vulnerable to entering the vicious cycle of chronic pain, suffering and disability.

scholarly journals Personality, mental health and demographic correlates of hoarding behaviours in a midlife sample

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e2826 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet K. Spittlehouse ◽  
Esther Vierck ◽  
John F. Pearson ◽  
Peter R. Joyce
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Clinical Symptoms ◽  
Short Form ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Harm Avoidance ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Temperament And Character Inventory ◽  
Economic Problems ◽  
Character Inventory

We describe the Temperament and Character Inventory personality traits, demographic features, physical and mental health variables associated with hoarding behaviour in a random community sample of midlife participants in New Zealand. A sample of 404 midlife participants was recruited to a study of ageing. To assess hoarding behaviours participants completed the Savings Inventory-Revised (SI-R), personality was assessed by the Temperament and Character Inventory and self-reported health was measured by the Short Form-36v2 (SF-36v2). Other measures were used to assess socio-demographic variables and current mental disorders. Participants were split into four groups by SI-R total score (scores: 0–4, 5–30, 31–41 and >41). Those who scored >41 on the SI-R were classified as having pathological hoarding. Trend tests were calculated across the four hoarding groups for socio-demographic, personality, mental and physical health variables. SI-R scores ranged from 0 to 58. The prevalence of pathological hoarding was 2.5% and a further 4% reported sub-clinical symptoms of hoarding. Higher hoarding behaviour scores were related to higher Temperament and Character Inventory scores for Harm Avoidance and lower scores for Self-directedness. Persistence and Cooperativeness scores were lower too but to a lesser extent. Trend analysis revealed that those with higher hoarding behaviour scores were more likely to be single, female, unemployed, receive income support, have a lower socio-economic status, lower household income and have poorer self-reported mental health scores. Current depression rates were considerably higher in the pathological hoarding group. Increasing SI-R hoarding behaviour scores were associated with higher scores of negative affect (Harm Avoidance) and lower scores of autonomy (Self-directedness). Those with pathological hoarding or sub-clinical symptoms of hoarding also reported widespread mental and socio-economic problems. In this study it is clear to see the physical, mental and socio-economic problems experienced by those achieving the highest hoarding scores. The prevalence of pathological hoarding was 2.5%, similar to the prevalence reported by other studies. The personality traits associated with hoarding behaviours are discussed.

ABCA1 Polymorphism, a Genetic Risk Factor of Harm Avoidance

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-195
Author(s):  
Eszter Kotyuk ◽  
Viktor Biro ◽  
Julianna Bircher ◽  
Zsuzsanna Elek ◽  
Maria Sasvari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Haplotype Analysis ◽  
Harm Avoidance ◽  
Cholesterol Homeostasis ◽  
Bonferroni Correction ◽  
Temperament And Character Inventory ◽  
Character Inventory ◽  
Self Harm ◽  
Independent Association ◽  
Related Personality

Abstract. Even though cholesterol homeostasis and self-harm behaviors have shown to be associated, gene polymorphisms of the cholesterol system have not been studied yet in the context of self-harm related personality traits. Here we present an association study between six ABCA1 polymorphisms and temperament scales measured by Cloninger’s Temperament and Character Inventory on 253 young adults. An association between ABCA1 rs4149264 and harm avoidance has been observed. This association remained significant after Bonferroni correction. Haplotype analysis confirmed an independent association between rs4149264 and harm avoidance. ABCA1, a cholesterol homeostasis gene, is a candidate gene for harm related personality traits.

scholarly journals Cooperativeness – A necessary trait for interpreters? A study on temperament and character dimensions of experts in different fields

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1385-1393
Author(s):  
Sinikka Hiltunen ◽  
Heli Mäntyranta ◽  
Ilmari Määttänen
Keyword(s):  
Multivariate Analysis ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Analysis Of Variance ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Expert Performance ◽  
Foreign Language Teachers ◽  
Temperament And Character Inventory ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Character Inventory

Aims and Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether particular temperament and personality traits are more characteristic to interpreters’ expert performance than to expert performance in other fields. Design: To these ends, the Temperament and Character Inventory by Cloninger et al. (1994) and the distractibility scale of the Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey by Windle (1992) were used. Data and Analyses: The data was gathered from two groups of interpreters (simultaneous and consecutive) and was compared to one group of foreign language teachers and one of non-linguistic experts from different fields of society. The group size varied between 20 and 23 participants each. The analyses were carried out with multivariate analysis of variance, supplemented with Bonferroni corrected contrasts. Findings: The results seem to indicate that temperament and character traits may have different impacts on different expert groups. In this study, in comparison to the control groups of foreign language teachers and non-linguistic experts, high cooperativeness was found to be more characteristic to simultaneous and consecutive interpreters. Cooperativeness also appears to be valued by recruiters and trainers of interpreters, for instance. Originality: The study was the first one comparing interpreters’ temperament and character dimensions with those of other expert groups, such as foreign language teachers and non-linguistic experts. Significance and Limitations: Among the different temperament and personality traits, at least cooperativeness seems to have a connection to the abilities and skills needed in the profession of an interpreter. More research, however, is needed to reveal possible connections of various temperament and personality traits with expertise in different fields. In this particular case, additional studies could show whether individuals with high cooperativeness become more easily interested in such professions as interpreting, or whether the high cooperativeness is a result of more experience and expertise in interpreting.

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