Associations of treatment resisting (Type R) and treatment seeking (Type S) personalities in medical students

Abstract

Abstract Most people with personality pathology do not seek help for treatment. This has been formally recognized in the descriptions of treatment resisting (Type R) and treatment seeking (Type S) personalities, but the distribution of these in non‐clinical populations is not known. The associations of Type R and Type S were examined in relationship to personality status using the NEO‐FFI questionnaire and the Schedule for Non‐adaptive and Adaptive Personalities (SNAP) in an unselected population of medical students. One hundred forty‐seven students completed the questionnaires and 60 completed the SNAP interview. Nineteen (13%) of the sample were classified as Type S personalities, the remainder were Type R. Seven (12%) of the sample who completed the SNAP had a personality disorder, three with depressive, three with antisocial and one with obsessive–compulsive personality disorder, and all of these were Type R personalities. Type S personalities had significantly higher scores for neuroticism on the NEO‐FFI (p < 0.002) and showed high correlations with borderline personality traits (r = 0.42), but were negatively associated with antisocial (r = −0.24), histrionic (−0.13) or narcissistic (r = −0.11) personality traits. In this population only a minority of people, those with borderline personality traits and high neuroticism scores, are amenable to interventions aimed at personality change. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd