Assessment of Pathological Personality traits in Meditation Practitioners and Non-practitioners

• Main Authors: Lucas de Francisco Carvalho, Wellington Arruda
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo 2018-07-01
• Series: Paidéia (Ribeirão Preto)
• Subjects: rasgos de personalidad; mindfulness; meditación; evaluación psicológica; personalidad patológica
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-863X2018000100603&lng=en&tlng=en

Abstract This study aimed to evaluate and compare pathological personality traits in meditation practitioners and non-practitioners. Therefore, data were collected from 104 participants of both sexes aged over 18 years, including 53 practitioners of concentrative and mindfulness meditation styles, and 51 non-practitioners. Participants responded to the Dimensional Clinical Personality Inventory (IDCP), the Brazilian version of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5), and an anamnesis questionnaire about the practice of meditation; we proceeded to repeated ANOVA measures and logistic regression analysis to verify the study’s goals. Overall, higher means were observed for non-practitioners in the dimensions/factors of the tests, and specific pathological traits as best predictors of the participating groups (practitioners versus non-practitioners). The results indicated that the meditators tended to have lower intensity of pathological personality traits.