Can the way individuals communicate in their daily discourse serve as an indicator of personality dysfunction? Our collaborative research indicates that such detection is indeed feasible, often at an earlier stage than might be anticipated.
From concise text messages and lengthy emails to casual conversations with acquaintances or online commentary, the vocabulary individuals select subtly illuminates underlying patterns in their cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal functioning.
Every person possesses personality traits, which are consistent predispositions in thought, feeling, and behavior. When these patterns become inflexible, extreme, or detrimental, they can lead to persistent challenges concerning emotional regulation, self-perception, and social connections.
At the more severe end of this continuum lie personality disorders, conditions where these ingrained patterns result in significant psychological distress and functional impairment. Among the commonly recognized personality disorders are narcissistic, antisocial, and borderline types.
However, not all individuals exhibit a fully developed disorder. Personality functioning exists along a gradient, and it’s worth noting that a degree of narcissism is present in all of us.
Many individuals encountered in professional, romantic, or online contexts may manifest subtler difficulties. These can include fluctuations in mood, a propensity for negativity, rigid cognitive frameworks, or less pronounced darker traits such as manipulativeness and callousness. These behavioral and cognitive patterns often manifest in an individual’s speech or writing considerably before they become evident in overt actions.
Remarkable illustrations exist. Linguists examining the correspondence of notorious Austrian serial offender Jack Unterweger, often cited as a quintessential example of malignant narcissism, identified an unusually high frequency of self-referential language, such as the use of “I” and “me.” His communications also conveyed a notably subdued emotional valence.
Similarly, communications from Dennis Rader, known as the BTK killer, were characterized by strikingly grandiose, detached, and dominance-oriented language.
Psychological research has long established that specific linguistic habits can offer insights into an individual’s internal psychological state. For instance, individuals experiencing significant distress consistently employ more self-centered language and a greater number of words expressing negative emotions. This is often attributed to a tendency towards introspection and a greater experience of negative affect.
Those exhibiting darker personality characteristics tend to utilize language that is more hostile, negative, and socially detached. This can include an increased prevalence of profanity and expressions of anger, such as “hate” or “mad,” while concurrently using fewer terms that signify social connectedness, like “we.”
Crucially, these linguistic tendencies are generally not conscious or intentional. They emerge organically as language serves as a conduit for attention, emotion, and thought processes. Modern computational text analysis techniques empower researchers to scrutinize these subtle linguistic markers comprehensively and with considerable speed.
Findings from Our Research
Across a series of four distinct studies employing computational text analysis—three of which constituted the foundation of my doctoral research—my collaborators and I have identified compelling evidence that personality dysfunction leaves an observable imprint on everyday communication.
In one investigation involving 530 participants, the findings of which were published in the Journal of Personality Disorders, we analyzed written essays detailing participants’ close interpersonal relationships. Concurrently, we gathered data regarding their levels of personality dysfunction. An elevated degree of personality dysfunction correlated with language exhibiting a sense of urgency and self-absorption, characterized by phrases such as “I need…,” “I have to…,” and “I am….”
This linguistic pattern was further accompanied by ruminative discourse and a focus on past-tense constructions. Participants also employed a greater number of negative emotional terms, particularly those indicating anger, such as “furious” and “annoyed.” Simultaneously, their use of language denoting intimacy or affiliation, like “we,” “love,” and “family,” was notably reduced.
In a subsequent project, detailed in the Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, we again subjected written essays from 530 individuals to linguistic analysis. Additionally, we examined transcribed conversations from 64 romantic partnerships, a cohort that included women with formally diagnosed personality disorders.
Both in written and spoken communication forms, individuals with more dysfunctional or disordered personality profiles utilized a wider array and greater frequency of negative emotion words. Even within the context of ordinary conversations, their language conveyed a more pronounced negative affect, suggesting a persistent preoccupation with adverse emotional states.
Focusing on digital communication, a recent study published in npj Mental Health Research involved the analysis of approximately 67,000 Reddit posts contributed by 992 individuals who identified as having a personality disorder. A subset of these individuals, those who frequently reported engaging in self-harm, exhibited communication patterns characterized by markedly more negative and restricted language.
Their posts frequently contained self-referential language and an increased use of negations, such as “can’t.” Furthermore, they employed more terms associated with sadness and anger, along with a higher incidence of profanity, while making fewer references to other individuals. Their discourse also displayed a more absolutist tone, indicative of dichotomous thinking, favoring terms like “always,” “never,” or “completely.”
Collectively, these linguistic features painted a picture of emotional overwhelm, pervasive negativity, social withdrawal, and cognitive rigidity.
Finally, in an ongoing investigation analyzing over 830,000 posts from the same 992 individuals diagnosed with personality disorders, contrasted with 1.3 million posts from a general population comparison group of 945 individuals, we examined how participants articulated their self-perceptions (“I am…,” “I feel…,” “My…”).
Utilizing an advanced tool for classifying self-belief statements, we discovered that individuals with personality disorders shared self-perceptions on online discussion forums with significantly greater frequency, and the language employed in these statements differed substantially.
Their self-perceptions were characterized by increased negativity, extremism, and a strong focus on disorder-related themes, including expressions such as “my mental health,” “symptoms,” “diagnosis,” and “medication.” They also incorporated more emotional descriptors like “depressive,” “suicidal,” and “panic.” A considerable proportion of these self-belief statements centered on themes of pain and trauma, featuring terms like “abusive,” “abandonment,” “hurt,” and “suffer.”
Furthermore, references to childhood or significant relationships, such as “mother,” “partner,” or “relationship,” were frequent. These patterns were observable across a broad spectrum of discussion contexts, suggesting that profound identity-related struggles may be universally reflected in language.
Significance of These Findings
The objective in understanding these linguistic patterns is not to establish diagnoses based solely on textual content. Rather, it is about identifying shifts in language that can offer subtle indicators. If an individual’s communications suddenly exhibit unusual urgency, extreme emotional negativity, absolutist thinking, excessive self-focus, or social detachment, these may be signals of internal struggle.
In everyday interactions—whether in dating, forming friendships, or engaging online—recognizing patterns of hostility, pronounced negativity, and emotional or cognitive inflexibility can serve as an early warning system. This is particularly pertinent for identifying darker personality styles, such as psychopathy or narcissism.
For example, a notably high frequency of self-references (“I,” “me”), anger-related terms (“hate,” “angry”), and profanity, coupled with a scarcity of language indicative of social connection (“we,” “us,” “our”), may represent significant linguistic cues to monitor.
It is important to note, however, that no single word or phrase definitively reveals a person’s personality. Individuals express a range of emotions, engage in humor, and employ sarcasm. The crucial factor is the consistent pattern observed over time, encompassing the emotional tone, recurring themes, and habitual linguistic choices.
Subtle linguistic indicators can provide a valuable insight into an individual’s emotional landscape, sense of self, cognitive processes, and relational dynamics, often before they are articulated verbally.
Becoming aware of these patterns can enhance our capacity to comprehend others, offer support to those experiencing difficulties, and navigate our social environments more safely and with greater discernment, both online and offline.
