Impact of Patient’s Personality Traits and Doctor-Patient Alliance on the Effectiveness of Psychological Therapy, and Suggestion for Treatment
Abstract
Given the escalating prominence of mental health issues, enhancing the efficacy of psychological treatment has emerged as a pivotal concern. As an enduring psychological characteristic among individuals, patients' personality traits can influence their acceptance, engagement, and response to treatment procedures, thereby impacting treatment outcomes. Simultaneously, fostering a doctor-patient alliance founded on trust, respect, and collaboration also constitutes a crucial factor influencing treatment effectiveness. Consequently, exploring the interplay between patient personality traits and doctor-patient alliance is of paramount significance for optimizing psychotherapy practices and improving therapeutic outcomes. However, existing research exhibits gaps in understanding how patient personality traits and doctor-patient alliance contribute to treatment outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of patient personality traits and doctor-patient alliance on the efficacy of psychotherapy, while proposing recommendations for enhancing the doctor-patient alliance. The methods employed in this study encompass a systematic review and comprehensive synthesis of existing literature, elucidating the present state of research, identifying research gaps, and delineating future research directions. The findings of various studies have consistently demonstrated that individuals with lower levels of neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness tended to exhibit more favorable treatment outcomes. Furthermore, the quality of therapeutic alliances significantly impacts psychotherapy effectiveness.
References
- Koç, V., & Kafa, G. (2019). Cross-cultural research on psychotherapy: The need for a change. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology, 50(1), 100-115. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022118806577
- Browne, J., Cather, C., & Mueser, K. T. (2021). Common factors in psychotherapy. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.79
- Zilcha-Mano, S., & Fisher, H. (2022). Distinct roles of state-like and trait-like patient–therapist alliance in psychotherapy. Nature Reviews Psychology, 1(4), 194-210. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-022-00029-z
- Fletcher, A. C., & Delgadillo, J. (2022). Psychotherapists' personality traits and their influence on treatment processes and outcomes: A scoping review. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 78(7), 1267-1287. http://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23310
- Sauer‐Zavala, S., Southward, M. W., & Semcho, S. A. (2022). Integrating and differentiating personality and psychopathology in cognitive behavioral therapy. Journal of Personality, 90(1), 89-102. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12602
- Bucher, M. A., Suzuki, T., & Samuel, D. B. (2019). A meta-analytic review of personality traits and their associations with mental health treatment outcomes. Clinical psychology review, 70, 51-63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2019.04.002
- Brudner, R. M., Gulamani, T., Rashid, T., & Uliaszek, A. A. (2024). Five-Factor Model Domains as Moderators of Treatment Outcomes in a Transdiagnostic Young Adult Sample. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10879-024-09618-w
- Prusiński, T. (2022). The strength of alliance in individual psychotherapy and patient's wellbeing: The relationships of the therapeutic alliance to psychological wellbeing, satisfaction with life, and flourishing in adult patients attending individual psychotherapy. Frontiers in psychiatry, 13, 827321. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.827321
- Petrocchi, S., Iannello, P., Lecciso, F., Levante, A., Antonietti, A., & Schulz, P. J. (2019). Interpersonal trust in doctor-patient relation: Evidence from dyadic analysis and association with quality of dyadic communication. Social science & medicine, 235, 112391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112391
- Tschuschke, V., Koemeda-Lutz, M., von Wyl, A., Crameri, A., & Schulthess, P. (2020). The impact of patients' and therapists' views of the therapeutic alliance on treatment outcome in psychotherapy. The Journal of nervous and mental disease, 208(1), 56-64. https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000001111
- Thiry, B. (2020). Assessing the therapeutic alliance with the five-factor model: An expert-based approach. In Annales Médico-psychologiques, revue psychiatrique,178(9), 913-919. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amp.2020.01.007
- Harbishettar, V., Krishna, K. R., Srinivasa, P., & Gowda, M. (2019). The enigma of doctor-patient relationship. Indian journal of psychiatry, 61(4), 776-781. https://doi.org/10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_96_19
- Heinonen, E., & Nissen-Lie, H. A. (2020). The professional and personal characteristics of effective psychotherapists: A systematic review. Psychotherapy Research, 30(4), 417-432. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2019.1661541