Is it possible to detect a personality disorder from someone's on a regular basis word usage? My colleagues and I even have done research that shows you may, and sometimes earlier than you may expect.
Whether it is a quick text message, a protracted email, an informal chat with a friend, or an internet comment, the words people select quietly reveal deep patterns in how they think, feel, and relate to others.
Everyone has personality traits – habitual ways of considering, feeling and behaving. When these patterns turn out to be rigid, intense, or disruptive, they could cause ongoing problems with emotions, sense of self, and relationships.
At the more extreme end are personality disorders, where these patterns cause significant distress and impairment. Common personality disorders include narcissistic, antisocial, and borderline personality disorders.
But not everyone has a full-blown disorder. Personality functioning actually exists on a spectrum. We're all a little bit narcissistic in any case.
Many people you meet – at work, when dating, or online – may exhibit milder difficulties, comparable to mood swings, negativity, rigid considering or manipulation, and deeper traits comparable to attraction. These patterns often Slip in how people speak Or write lots before appearing in additional obvious behavior.
There are some extreme examples. A linguist An Analysis of the Personal Letters of Austrian Serial Killer Jack Unterweger —widely seen as a classic case of malignant narcissism—present in unusually high levels of self-centered language, comparable to “me” and “me.” He also had a very flat emotional tone. Similarly, the letters of Dennis Reeder, BT's killer (sure, tortured, murdered) reveal surprisingly Grand, separate and dominant words.
Psychologists have long known that certain linguistic habits reflect how individuals are working internally. For example, people experiencing anxiety are inclined to use more consistently Self-centered language And more Negative emotion words. This is because they internalize an excessive amount of and affect negative affect.
Those with deep personality traits often use more Antagonistic, negative and disconnected languageincluding more swear words and anger words, comparable to “hate” or “crazy”. At the identical time, they use less socially connected terms comparable to “we”.
To a big extent, these patterns are frequently not intentional. They emerge naturally because Language tracks attention, emotion and thought. With computational text evaluation, researchers can now analyze these subtle signals at scale and quickly.
Results of our research
In 4 studies using computational text evaluation—three of which constituted mine PhD Research – My colleagues and I discovered clear evidence that personality disorders leave a recognizable trace in on a regular basis communication.
In a study of 530 people, published in Journal of Personality Disorderswe analyzed articles written about people's intimate relationships. We also collected data on their level of personality disorder. People with excessive personality disorder use language that conveys a way of urgency and self-focus—”I need to…”, “I have to…”, “I am…”.
It was expressed with rumours, words previously tense. They also had more negative, especially offended, emotion terms, comparable to “anger” and “angry.” At the identical time, they used significantly less intimate or associated language comparable to “we”, “love” and “family”.
In one other project, published in Journal of Affective Disorder Reportswe again analyzed written essays (530 individuals), similarly transferred from 64 romantic couples including women with diagnosed personality disorders.
In each written and spoken communication, those with more passive or dysfunctional personalities are inclined to use more negative emotion words. Even during mundane conversations, their language carried a heavy negative affect, indicating a preoccupation with negative feelings.
Turning to online communication, a recently published study NPJ Mental Health Researchwe analyzed nearly 67,000 Reddit posts from 992 individuals who self-identified as having a personality disorder. People who self-harmed often engaged in language that was markedly more negative and compulsive.
Their posts contain more self-centered language and more bare-bones words like “can't”. They also used more sad and offended terms, and more swearing, when referring to other people. Their vocabulary was also more absolutist, reflecting all types of considering, favoring words like “always”, “never”, or “absolutely”.
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Together, these features created a linguistic picture of emotional excess, negation, withdrawal, and rigid considering.
Finally, in an ongoing project that analyzes greater than 830,000 posts from 992 individuals with personality disorders plus 1.3 million posts from a general population comparison group of 945 people, we examined how people express their self-esteem (“I am…”, “I feel…”, “My…”). Using a Advanced Self-Esteem Rating Instrumentwe found that individuals with personality disorders shared their self-esteem more often on online discussion forums, and their words differed significantly.
Their self-concepts were more negative, extreme and disorder-based, including phrases comparable to “my mental health”, “symptoms”, “diagnosis” and “medication”. They also used more emotional descriptors comparable to “depressed”, “suicidal” and “panic”. Many self-reflections deal with pain and trauma—”abuse,” “abandonment,” “hurt,” “suffering.”
They also often consult with childhood or vital relationships (“mother”, “partner”, “relationship”). These patterns emerged across a big selection of discourses, suggesting that deep struggles with identity will be universally expressed.
Why does it matter?
Understanding these linguistic patterns is just not about judging people from their text. It's about searching for shifts in language that may provide subtle clues. If someone's messages suddenly turn out to be unusually urgent or extreme, emotionally negative, absolute, inward-focused, and socially withdrawn, it could be an indication that they're struggling.
And recognizing patterns of hostility, extreme negativity, and emotional and cognitive rigidity in on a regular basis situations — dating, friendships, online interactions — will help people spot early red flags. This is particularly true for dark personality styles, comparable to psychopathy or narcissism. For example, self-esteem (“I”, “I”), significantly higher use of anger words (“hate”, “angry”), and swear words, combined with a scarcity of terms to point social communication cues (“we”, “us”, “our”), could also be language patterns.
But no word or phrase reveals one's personality. People ridicule, joke and use. What matters is its pattern over time. Emotional tone, themes and recurring linguistic habits. Subtle linguistic cues can offer a window into someone's emotional world, identity, thought patterns and relationships before they talk openly about their difficulties.
Seeing these patterns will help us learn and understand others, support those that may struggle, and safely navigate our social lives – online and offline – with greater awareness.