The personality and cognitive-epistemological traits of cognitive-behavioural and psychoanalytic psychotherapists

This is an investigation into the personality and cognitive-epistemological traits of psychotherapists from two major psychotherapeutic orientations. The purpose is to examine whether there are distinctive trait patterns associated with each orientation. Two hundred and forty-seven psychotherapists from the psychoanalytic and cognitive-behavioural orientations completed standardized personality and epistemological trait inventories. The results reveal significant differences on these measures between the two orientation groups, and suggest that different patterns of personality and cognitive-epistemological traits are associated with practitioners from these two orientations. These trait findings are summarized into two comparative descriptions, which illustrate their differences.