Each of us have qualities that seem relatively stable over our lifespan, while other aspects seem to come and go.
Some of our more stable qualities are personality factors. Examples of personality factors include how outgoing we are, a tendency to see the glass as “half-empty”, and our propensity for risk-taking behaviors. There are many more.
When a personality factor is less prominent, it can be considered a style. That level of personality factor is one we can engage or not engage, if and as we choose. But when a personality factor is much more prominent, it can distort our perception of life’s events and entrench us in behaviors we find very hard to prevent or defy.
In clinical addiction treatment, personality factors can make a difference for the counselor as well as the patient.
How can personality factors make a difference for the counselor? Well, it’s often very helpful for the counselor to have a relatively clear picture and thorough understanding of their own personality. How so? Given how stable they are, being clearly aware of their own personality factors can help the counselor to consciously work against the tendency to be the same and do the same, on autopilot, with each patient – merely being driven by their own personality.
- Do I see what’s happening, or do I see events as my personality influences me to see them?
- Do I make the current clinical choice out of adherence to best-practice, or does my personality drive my clinical decision making and methods?
Addiction treatment programs of all kinds could probably improve by adding clinical expertise in the domain of personality.
- Traditional addiction treatment pays attention to behavior, self-talk, emotion, and mood.
- By contrast, clinical psychology goes farther, and also offers understanding of in-born temperament, adaptations to the imprinting events of our early life, and the formations that sit atop those earlier layers. (A rough outline of those layers is pictured in the diagram below).
Clinical evaluation of personality function that results in the presence of only one key factor can have significant practical value for the patient.
- For example, suppose shyness was found.
- This information could be used as a source of power for the patient.
- The patient could be taught about this factor, how it functions, and to label this trait as a valuable attribute.
- For practical application, the patient could be coached to mindfully accept and experience that trait while they enter and move within the relationships of a supportive fellowship.
Sometimes we see a person in treatment with two key factors that seem to point in different directions. A classic example of this is called the “dependent/avoidant split.”
- A person with dependent traits needs a greater amount of reassurance and external validation.
- Someone with avoidant traits distances themselves from social relations.
Imagine someone who has both dependent and avoidant traits navigating a support fellowship. Coaching such a patient on ways to notice and navigate those opposing tendencies, as they socialize within their support community, and accepting themself without judgment as they do so, might be especially helpful.
As addiction treatment for those with complex, severe, and chronic addiction illness continues to expand and mature as a professional clinical discipline, I hope that personality factors and their function are a major topic of focus – for clinical supervision of clinical supervision, clinical supervision of counseling, counseling of the patient, and the family system as a whole.
Suggested Reading
Balint, M. (1979). The Basic Fault: Therapeutic Aspects of Regression. Brunner/Mazel.
- This difficult read examines the bio-psychological origins of the psychic fracture we all experience in early life, as the gap between our needs and the nurturing we receive, produces a vulnerability we experience and accommodate across our lifespan.
Carroll, D. (2013). The 9 and 12 Workbook: Renewing Your Recovery, Re-claiming Your Life. Little Peak Creek Publishing Company.
- This is an easy entrance to the integration of the Enneagram and the 12 Steps with a focus on practical application.
Johnson, S. M. (1994). Character Styles. W. W. Norton & Company.
- A challenging academic read of the physiological and psychological substrates of personality structures and factors.
Joines, V. & Stewart, I. (2002). Personality Adaptations: A New Guide to Human Understanding in Psychotherapy and Counseling. Lifespace.
- A practical and accessible text aimed at counselors gaining a practical understanding of personality function and related therapy techniques.
Morneau-Vaillancourt, G., Dionne, G., Brendgen, M. et al. (2019). The Genetic and Environmental Etiology of Shyness Through Childhood. Behavior Genetics. 49: 376–385. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-019-09955-w
- An example of a more recent academic empirical paper related to the topic.
Oldham, J. M. & Morris, L. B. (1995). The New Personality Self-Portrait: Why You Think, Work, Love and Act the Way You Do. Bantam.
- Not a difficult read. This book focuses on diagnostic categories of personality, and re-frames them in simple ways toward positively harnessing those personality features through the power of accurate awareness.
Recovery Review 