Can People Change? Here's How Experts Answer The Question

Can people change?

This is the first thing you ask after they break your heart. If you just give them another chance, they will improve.

As much as you want to believe them, you find yourself asking, "Can people improve, or do they just lie?"

The short answer is that people can improve, but this does not guarantee that they will. Change necessitates an openness to new perspectives as well as some effort.

Can People Really Change?

According to the writers of a recent review report, personality can change over time. For example, as we get older, we appear to become more responsible and emotionally stable. These changes usually take years to manifest and tend to be part of a normal developmental phase.

The researchers in the study titled "A Systematic Review of Personality Trait Change Through Intervention" wanted to know whether therapy could alter someone's personality quickly. They focused on the "Big Five" personality traits. These traits are extraversion, emotional stability, openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness.

Roberts and colleagues looked at over 200 studies that included a control group and assessed personality characteristics before and after some form of intervention. Medication and different psychotherapy types for a psychiatric disorder were the mainstays of the interventions, which lasted an average of 24 weeks. Their research yielded some intriguing findings:

Treatment does have the ability to alter one's personality.

The average changes were small to medium, implying that they would be noticed by the person and those in his or her life. An individual who is easily irritated, for example, can have an easier time dealing with stressors. Regardless of age or gender, the effects on personality were the same.

Personality changes occurred over time.

The authors found that all of the studies they looked at had a follow-up duration after the treatment ended, which lasted on average around 6 months. Also a year or more later, treatment-related improvements remained stable or even improved during the follow-up period.

Some personality characteristics reacted better to therapy than others.

Emotional resilience (the polar opposite of neuroticism) had the greatest impact, whereas openness to experience had the smallest. The second most significant shift was in extraversion. These variations may reflect behaviors that are more likely to shift, but they could also reflect what the therapies were targeted at, according to the authors. Treatment for anxiety or depression, for example, will concentrate on improving emotional health.

Some personality traits were more responsive to treatment.

While cognitive behavioral and supportive therapy had slightly greater effects, other treatments were also successful, with medication having the smallest impact.

Amount of change depended on what the treatment was for.

Those seeking treatment for anxiety and personality disorders changed the most. In contrast, those receiving treatment for eating and alcohol use disorders changed the least.

A Word of Caution: Change Does Not Always Follow Through

For anyone who is genuine in their desire to improve will not always succeed the first or second time. At first, it's easy to fall back into old habits, even without even noticing it.

Before trying again, it's always a good idea to rethink your plan and look at other options for dealing with causes.
True dedication to change, on the other hand, usually manifests itself in visible effort and success.

Let's say your partner makes fun of you if you disagree.

They confess that they do this to lighten the mood because they hate confrontation after any conversation. They promise to quit when they know how much it hurts you. They thrive for a few months before reverting to their old habits.

They plan to go to counseling to fix the root problems linked to their fears of confrontation after you call them out on it.

Takeaway

The authors included a significant caveat: it's conceivable that a person's personality changed due to the illness that led to treatment. An episode of depression, for example, could have dramatically lowered a person's mental health.

What seems to be an increase in emotional stability due to therapy may simply be a side effect of depression treatment, which recovers the person's pre-depression emotional stability. Based on the available evidence, this theory cannot be ruled out.

Therefore: change is a possibility, not a foregone conclusion.

It's critical to understand that people change, but it's also critical to know when to let go.

In most situations, progress does not occur until someone shows a desire for it. Waiting and hoping can leave you in a place where you tolerate pain again and again if they don't seem willing to fix troublesome behaviors.

But you consider this additional advantage of treatment if you've considered beginning therapy because you feel detached from the person you used to be. You'll actually feel like the best version of yourself, not just better.

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