Personality and psychopathology: The moderating effect of mentalized affectivity

Abstract

Our personality is an important component in understanding ourselves and it influences how we navigate our environments and develop interpersonal relationships. The two-polarities model of personality describes the development of personality through the dialectical interaction between two developmental psychological processes, interpersonal relatedness and self-definition. Both dimensions have unique characteristics contributing to either adaptive or maladaptive personality development, shaping the meaning of psychological experiences. Too much of one configuration at the expense of the other has been related to psychopathology. Mentalized affectivity (MA), a component of mentalization, is similar to the two-polarities model of personality in that it also helps us to understand ourselves and others, but through our emotional experiences. One component of MA, processing emotions, is a powerful transdiagnostic feature that can create susceptibility to psychopathology or act as a protective factor and help promote change. Although research has looked at the relationship between mentalization and personality, less is known about the relationship between personality and mentalized affectivity. Participants (N = 201; 53.2% male) completed measures, related to mentalized affectivity, to personality, and to psychological symptoms. Moderation analysis revealed patterns of lower levels of processing emotions strengthening the relationship between personality and forms of psychopathology. When personality becomes maladaptive and there are impairments in processing, there is more susceptibility to pathology. Our research supports the use of mentalization-based and personality-based treatment to alleviate symptoms of psychopathology by increasing levels of processing emotions and fostering adaptive personality development.