Each month our editorial team sifts through hundreds of papers and curates notable findings—for practitioners and informed readers who want to stay current with the evidence. Subscribe to the monthly Research Digest for expert analysis and concise summaries of key papers.
This 1992 review describes the five-factor model, which groups personality into five basic traits: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience. The authors summarize research using natural-language adjectives and personality questionnaires that supports the model’s broad coverage of personality and its usefulness across different observers and cultures. They review…
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) and narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) are different but can look similar. BPD is marked by unstable moods, a shifting sense of self, fear of abandonment, and often impulsive or self-harming behavior. NPD is marked by grandiosity, a strong need for admiration, low empathy, and using others…
This review examines empathy in people with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). It says empathy is not simply missing in NPD, but is complex and varies by situation and motivation. The paper notes empathy has two parts—feeling with others (emotional empathy) and understanding others' thoughts and feelings (cognitive empathy)—and finds emotional…
This 2020 article reviews studies on parenting, attachment, and empathy in people with pathological narcissism and proposes using mentalization-based treatment (MBT) as a main therapy. The authors say problems with mentalization — understanding one’s own and others’ thoughts and feelings — are central to their model. They describe core MBT…
This paper reviewed 34 neuroscience studies about different kinds of narcissism, including grandiose, vulnerable, pathological forms, and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The authors found that neuroscience studies often show people with grandiose narcissism are more alert to threats to their ego and show stronger stress responses after such threats, and they…
This review sums up what researchers have learned about narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) in the last decade. It explains that diagnosis now includes both the old yes/no view and a newer scale-based view, describes two main types called grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, reports many possible causes and mechanisms across areas…
This study asked 683 people who lived closely with a relative with pathological narcissism about their grief, burden, mental health, and coping. Most participants were romantic partners. The study found very high levels of burden and mental-health problems in this group, and it notes that sample selection limits how the…
Transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP) is a psychodynamic treatment with research support for borderline personality disorder (BPD). The authors describe an adapted form called TFP-N for people with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) or narcissistic traits. TFP-N keeps core elements like a treatment contract and an interpretive process to identify and change harmful…
Atypical depression is a recognized subtype of depressive illness in the DSM-IV. It often starts early, lasts a long time, and is common in clinic samples. The DSM-IV diagnosis requires mood reactivity plus at least two of: increased appetite, increased sleep, heavy limbs (“leaden paralysis”), or long-standing sensitivity to rejection.…
This study recorded brain activity (EEG) while 68 females aged 13–23 (35 with borderline personality disorder, 33 healthy) did a guessing task with equal wins and losses. People with BPD showed less difference in their brain responses to wins versus losses than healthy peers. Time-frequency tests suggested this smaller difference…
This paper reviews research showing that emotion dysregulation (ED) is not only part of borderline personality disorder (BPD) but also appears across other diagnoses. The authors examined evidence for ED in 8 specific disorders and propose a transdiagnostic model that describes core triggers and interpersonal styles. They say this model…
The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, now in its fourth edition (MCMI-IV), is a 175-question true-or-false test that clinicians use to identify personality problems and related clinical syndromes. It was built from Theodore Millon’s ecological-motivational theory, which says personality grows from basic survival drives and life experiences. When used alongside a…
