Personality traits as seen by patients, therapists and other group members: The big five in personality disorder groups

Interactional group psychotherapy is based on the assumption that patients bring their problematic personality problems into the group, and that feedback and the ability to test new behaviors leads to change. A corollary of this assumption is that there should be consensual validation among therapists and other group members (OGMs) regarding a patient's personality. The present study tested this corollary. Group patients with personality disorders were rated by themselves, their therapists, and OGMs on a measure of the Big Five personality factors, We found substantial agreement between the therapists and OGMs regarding a target patient's personality, with lesser agreement with the target patient's self ratings. Furthermore, the degree of agreement between self and others was positively related to the number of personality disorder symptoms prior to beginning the group.