Personality Types: Do They Have an Influence on Your Health?

Our personality determines a series of behavior patterns, habits and ways of relating to others that can protect us or predispose us to certain physical and mental illnesses.

Most of us do not imagine that the way you are has an influence on your physical health, but scientific evidence indicates that there is a relationship between diseases of the body and psychological factors such as personality.

Identifying this relationship in time can help you take care of and improve the health of your mind and body.

In this article we will review the concept of personality, the personality types from A to D, how each influences people's health and what you can do to change those aspects that may be putting you at risk of getting sick. Let us begin…

What is personality?

Since ancient times, personality has been a subject of great interest and frequently related to health.

Each researcher has contributed from their point of view to what we define today as personality. If we take Theodore Millon (1928-2014) as a reference, an important personality researcher, the concept of personality is:

“a complex pattern of deeply ingrained psychological characteristics, which are for the most part unconscious and difficult to change, which express themselves automatically in almost all areas of the individual's functioning”.

The fact that personality is unconscious tells us that in principle, we do not control our way of being and interacting with the environment that surrounds us at will, but rather, as the author says, it is something automatic.

Personality develops from birth to around the age of 20 years and is determined by the experiences individuals live through these years and the patterns they learn from their authority figures.

Personality types from “A” to “D”

One of the ways to classify personality types is by letters, in this case we will use the classification from "A" to "D" to describe four major personality types and how they can affect your physical and mental health.

Type A personality – Bossy

In the late 1950s, Meyer Friedman and Raymond Rosenman, two cardiologists, observed that people with a certain behavior pattern had a higher cardiovascular risk and called this pattern type A personality.

People with type A behavior pattern are competitive, irritable, ambitious, impatient and hostile, they become more involved with work and may become workaholics. Below you will find a list of behaviors used by psychologists and psychiatrists to diagnose type A personality:

1. Work hard to meet deadlines
2. Always feeling that time is running out
3. Talking fast and explosively, having jerky body movements, tensing facial muscles, and gesturing with your hands as if under pressure
4. Being hostile or cynical
5. Have an irritable mood
6. Tend to speed up physical activities
7. Tend to speed up mental activities
8. Intense desire to achieve goals and recognition
9. Be highly competitive

According to the structured interview for DCPR, if you meet 5 of the 9 items above, you have a type A personality. Your personality does not have to be a problem, you just have to achieve balance and practice self-care.

Consider:

• learning to say no
• working for your well-being and not to please your bosses, before taking on more responsibilities at work
• asking yourself if you continually sacrifice your well being for the company
• and remember you just don’t have to control everything

Try to include satisfying activities such as physical exercise, meditation, leisure time and a balanced diet in your routines. Do not hesitate to seek professional advice if you feel that your personality may be causing you health problems, or in your family or personal life.

Type B personality – Laid-back

The Type B personality is the exact opposite of the Type A personality.

They are laid-back, charismatic, entertaining, kind, and well-liked by others, which makes it easy for them to make new friends wherever they go.

They are not usually competitive and:

• take things as they come
• become less involved in work
• and remain calm even in highly stressful situations

This is not to say that the type B personality doesn't care, they ideally find a balance between their social life and their work duties so that their personality traits are not an obstacle to their professional development.

The fact that they react well to errors and tolerate pressure well makes them less likely to develop hypertension or coronary disease. Their low stress levels allow them to have a strong immune system and therefore get less sick overall.

If you belong to type B it is important that you work on your ability to:

• commit to work
• meet deadlines
• and achieve a balance between your social and work life

Regarding your health, you have the non-disease-prone personality, just try to perform your medical check-ups annually and follow your doctor's recommendations.

Type C personality – Sensitive, prudent and reserved

The first description of the type C personality is attributed to Greer and Morris in 1975.

These researchers carried out a study in women with breast cancer and found that there was a common pattern in which difficulty expressing emotions prevailed, for what type C is known as cancer-prone personality.

Type C people tend to be introverted, analytical, sensitive, prudent, perfectionist, systematic, and reserved. Their qualities allow them to detect details that go unnoticed by most people, they are precise and with great attention to detail.

As a defect they tend to reject criticism but be highly critical of others.

This type of personality tends to choose careers such as accounting, software engineering or computer science.

It is common for them to:

• keep their sorrows to themselves
• have difficulty adapting to change
• be socially isolated
• and avoid conflict at all costs

Among the diseases associated with this type of personality are:

• depression
• dysthymia
• and cancer, particularly melanomas (skin cancer)

If you belong to this group, you would benefit from practicing mindfulness as a way to become aware of your emotions and how they are affecting your body. Cognitive behavioral therapy and group therapy are also good options.

Remember that:

• everything you keep quiet about does not die but can make you sick
• try to start giving your point of view in daily conversations with your family
• state your disagreement assertively
• you will feel better about yourself and you will see that there is nothing to fear
• disagreeing and thinking differently is okay

Type D personality – In difficulties

This type of personality experiences:

• a continuous feeling of sadness
• helplessness
• anxiety and adversity that leads them to socially isolate themselves for fear that something bad might happen
• lack of confidence or discomfort when being with strangers

Negative feelings are known as negative affectivity and social isolation is called social inhibition, and are the two big traits of the type D personality.

If the above sounds like you, you are probably type D.

Johan Denollet (1957-2019) developed the DS14, a test to diagnose type D personality, consisting of 14 questions, 7 for each trait (negative affectivity and social inhibition), each item is scored from 0 to 4, if you get a score of 10 or more your personality is type D.

The traits that characterize type D people make them vulnerable to developing chronic stress and therefore developing diseases such as depression, high blood pressure and coronary heart disease.

If you have a type D personality, it's important that you consult with your doctor about how to overcome the negative vision of the world and of yourself. This way you can begin to have healthy and satisfying interpersonal relationships as one way to prevent the disease.

You are stronger and more capable than you think.

Personality Types: In conclusion

Personality is unconscious and explains our automatic pattern of behavior. Knowing your own personality type is the first step to use your personality traits in your favor and not against.

Diversity is strength, so whatever group you belong to, you have a lot to contribute.

The key is to achieve balance between the different facets of your life and not neglect your own well-being. If you feel that your personality is affecting your health, do not hesitate to consult a mental health specialist and start preventing today.

Photo by Alexander Grey