750 vII. APPLICATIONS  AND  IMPLICATIONS
en, 2001; Friedman & Hampson, Chapter 
37, this volume), possibly as a result of stron -
ger social support and inhibition of risky 
behaviors. Additionally, conscientiousness 
has been linked to a number of maladap -
tive health behaviors (e.g., substance use, 
unhealthy eating patterns, risky sex; Boggs 
& Roberts, 2004; Friedman & Hampson, 
Chapter 37, this volume). Low agreeableness 
predicts poorer physical health outcomes 
such as cardiovascular disease and decreased 
lifespan (T. Miller, Smith, Turner, Guijarro, 
& Hallet, 1996), and high neuroticism is 
related to increased risk of physical disease 
and illness behaviors (Smith & Spiro, 2002). 
There also are strong links between person -
ality and chronic stress and stress-  related 
diseases. Finally, personality pathology is re -
lated to physical health problems, such that 
individuals who have extreme or maladap -
tive personality traits show increased health 
care utilization and medication use (Chen et 
al., 2009; Powers & Oltmanns, 2012).
Assessment and  Intervention
Assessing traits of personality might have 
benefits for clinicians treating patients. 
Trait-based dimensional personality models 
can aid individualized treatment planning, 
allowing for better specification of problem -
atic areas and obstacles, targeted or tailored 
treatments, and identification of strengths 
that might impact treatment (Skodol et al., 
2011). For example, adaptive personality 
traits, such as moderate conscientiousness, 
may imply that an individual might be re -
ceptive to therapeutic approaches that are 
more rigorous or involve homework (e.g., 
cognitive-  behavioral therapy). Similarly, 
maladaptively low extraversion might sug -
gest that an individual may experience in -
adequate social support, that there may be 
difficulties building a therapeutic alliance, 
or that individuals may eschew recommen -
dations for group therapy.
Although there are few empirical studies 
investigating the use of personality models 
in treatment planning, there is much specu -
lation about how personality traits might in -
form and guide clinical intervention. For ex -
ample, individuals high in neuroticism likely 
experience heightened personal distress and may benefit from psychopharmacological 
and therapeutic interventions aimed at re -
ducing negative affect and regulating emo -
tions (e.g., Barlow et al., 2014). Birath, De -
marinis, Stenbacka, and Klinteberg (2011) 
found that certain personality character -
istics (e.g., vulnerability to stress) may be 
utilized to target specific aspects of inten -
sity and planning for women receiving sub -
stance abuse treatment. Maladaptive high 
agreeableness is associated with problem -
atic relationships, and such individuals may 
benefit from interventions that facilitate as -
sertiveness. There are a number of potential 
translational applications of personality in -
cluding development of targeted treatments, 
predicting treatment outcome, and guiding 
treatment planning. Thus, the intersection 
of personality, psychopathology, and treat -
ment has great potential for future study.
Summary
Personality models provide a compelling 
framework for understanding the etiology, 
presentation, course, and treatment of psy -
chopathology (Widiger & Smith, 2008; Wi -
diger et al., 2019). Research has advanced 
beyond simply examining relationships and 
considering the causal mechanisms within 
these associations, and is now moving to -
ward the successful translation of personal -
ity to other, related psychological constructs 
and applied fields. Additionally, personality 
research continues to play a crucial role in 
psychopathology structure and modeling, 
with impressive strides in recent years. Much 
of the work described in this chapter has ex -
amined broad dimensions of personality. To 
advance the field in meaningful ways, future 
research should examine the associations 
of lower-order personality facets to spe -
cific pathological traits and disorders, and 
test these associations longitudinally and in 
clinical settings.
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