Is Personality A Factor in The development of Metabolic Disorders?
To answer the question of whether personality factors in the onset of metabolic disorders we need some definition, So, what is personality? It’s simply the story of ourselves. Our story contains verses and chapters such as “my life”, “my past”, “my perceptions”, and “my feelings” and it unfolds from conception. Everything we see, hear, touch, and experience, contributes in some way to what we perceive and how we think, feel, and behave. Personality is the manifestation of our personal and worldviews; the expression of our core beliefs and preferences. The assimilation of experience shapes, molds and refines our values, traits and behaviors. In time this assimilation takes on a structure we depend on for our sense of identity, our beliefs, and of course, our choices.
By early adulthood, most of us have a blend of personality traits that are our “style”; the outward expression of our identity that influences how we treat ourselves and interact with others. Those who know us well can generally predict how we’ll respond based on our style. In turn, we can usually predict the behavior of others. It’s not until a person’s style begins to significantly affect their functioning (workplace / school) or relationships that it might rise to the diagnostic threshold for a “disorder”. It’s relatively rare that a person meets the criteria for a personality disorder. Rather, it’s more common for people to have a blend of traits from two dominant styles [72] There are few studies that explore personality traits as related to eating behavior, despite obvious biopsychosocial factors and attitudes that directly affect health and well-being. This lack of research is surprising when we consider that our perceptions and self view directly affect our thoughts, behaviors (activities we’re willing to engage in), and comfort with social situations.
Personality Assessment and Traits
One of the widely-used assessments for personality is the five-factor model, which measures: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness [1,2]. Of the five traits, low scores on conscientiousness are most consistently associated with dysregulated eating (as well as smoking, drug abuse, and other binge behaviors). This stands to reason given that conscientiousness measures behaviors such as order and self-discipline. For adults with diabetes (n = 1900), low conscientiousness (which reflects careless behavior and a lack of planning) was identified as a significant risk factor for higher mortality rates [3]. Neuroticism scores correlate with weight gain and reflect research linking psychiatric disorders (such as depression or anxiety) with high rates of obesity. Not surprisingly, impulsivity (one of the sub factors measured by neuroticism) contributes to increases in BMI [2] and presents as a significant factor for weight gain following bariatric surgery [4].
Personality – Character
Despite the paucity of clinical research, as a psychologist who treats the mental health disorders that lead to disordered eating, it’s extremely rare that any client presents with any significant deficits in character. In fact, traits of kindness, caring, loyalty, dependability and nurturing are most prevalent across our client population. Most of the time, life experience has simply covered up their potential and robbed them of self-confidence and self worth. Our approach to building client trust and hope is to separate character from choices and behavior early in treatment. We focus on strengths with remarks like:
You’re kind, caring, wise and loving – you are everything you need to be!
Our goal is to explore thoughts, choices and behaviors that can support your health.
As a person – you’re enough!
In our time together we’re going to focus on tasks; NOT character.”
When clients take this approach to heart, often there are tears of relief and sadness, but what soon follows is an earnest interest and willingness to explore what they can DO differently.
The BreakThrough! Deep Dive
Soon after clients acknowledge their strengths we begin exercises to identify and change the inner narrative. Most of the time, clients present a self-defeating, miserable inner critic we call “bitching Betty.” Throughout BreakThrough! programs the inner critic is presented as a compilation of other peoples’ stuff – hurtful remarks, bullying, abuse that was assimilated early in life. Surfacing this critic begins early through structured supervised course work (in office and through our online learning management system). Often clients identify several people who reinforce(d) bitching Betty. After this work, clients understand why they’ve been eating re-actively to feelings generated by Betty and the transformative work (critic to inner coach) can begin in earnest. All we ask our clients to do is focus on what they do well already and make changes as indicated. In closing; weight management is not about character – it’s having the support to rediscover strengths and the motivation to make healthy choices!
Join us this Saturday, August 12th at 11 AM EST at for an overview of the BreakThrough! program. For Zoom link please RSVP
RSVP: Hhamilton@Breakthroughwmt.com
References & Related Topics
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