PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF PSYCHOTIC PATIENTS AS POSSIBLE MOTIVATING FACTORS FOR PARTICIPATING IN GROUP PSYCHOTHERAPY

Background: This study aimed to examine the relationship between some personality characteristics of patients diagnosed with psychotic disorders and the quality of their engagement in psychodynamic group psychotherapy. Given that previous research has shown that self-stigma is significantly negatively associated with the engagement of patients, the measure of self-stigma was used as a correlate of patients’ motivation to participate in group psychotherapy. Subjects and methods: A total of 48 outpatients (52.1% women; mean age 35.30 years) attending group psychodynamic psychotherapy completed The Inventory of Personality Organization, The Pathological Narcissism Inventory, The Measure of Parental Style, The Relationship Questionnaire, and The Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness scale. Results: The findings showed that patients with higher levels of self-stigma have unhealthy attachments styles, perceived their mothers´ parental style as indifferent and achieved greater scores on narcissistic vulnerability scale. They are also are prone to primitive psychological defences, have poorly integrated identity, and achieved lower scores on reality testing dimension. Conclusion: Taking into account the limitations of this study, these findings may contribute to improved understanding of the quality of participation and engagement of psychotic patients in group psychotherapy, and may help to develop more effective therapeutic approaches.