Can Therapy Change Your Personality? Understanding the Big Five Traits and How They Evolve
People often talk about personality as though it is fixed for life:
“That is just who I am.”
“People never change.”
However, modern research tells a more hopeful story.
Personality is mostly stable, but it can change. Therapy, especially methods like CorMorphosis™ Psychotherapy, can genuinely help reshape personality traits over time. Let us look at how this works.
Understanding the Big Five Personality Traits
The Big Five model (also called the Five-Factor Model) is the most widely accepted scientific framework for describing human personality.
It organizes our consistent patterns of behaviour, emotion, and thought into five broad domains:
| Trait | Description |
|---|---|
| Openness to Experience | Imagination, curiosity, and openness to new ideas and emotions. |
| Conscientiousness | Organization, self-discipline, and reliability. |
| Extraversion | Sociability, assertiveness, and positive emotionality. |
| Agreeableness | Compassion, cooperation, and empathy toward others. |
| Neuroticism | Tendency toward anxiety, emotional volatility, and stress sensitivity. |
What the Big Five Really Measures
The Big Five is a model that describes personality traits based on how people see each other. Researchers analyzed large amounts of language and self-ratings to identify patterns in the adjectives people use across different cultures and situations.
In simple terms, the Big Five does not reveal our true selves in depth. It shows how our behaviour generally appears.
These five dimensions reflect consistent patterns in how we think, feel, and behave, rather than fixed traits or moral values. They show trends, like average weather, but they are not rigid rules. You might have a personality that fits a “temperate climate,” but changes can still happen.
Therapy and personal experience can help shift your personality patterns toward more balance, resilience, and well-being.
Why “Traits” Does not Mean “Fixed”
Origin of the Term
Early personality psychologists, such as Gordon Allport in the 1930s and later Cattell, Costa, and McCrae, used the term “trait” to describe a behaviour or pattern that we can observe over time and across different situations.
They believed that people show some level of consistency in their behaviour, even though these tendencies can change.
A trait was defined as:
“A relatively enduring pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving.”
The keyword is “relatively.”
Psychologists found that these patterns are more stable than moods, but less fixed than temperament or biology.
2. Statistical Reasoning: What “Trait” Means in Data
The Big Five model is based on factor analysis, a method that identifies groups of related behaviours.
When traits like “organized,” “responsible,” and “goal-directed” are grouped, they are referred to as Conscientiousness.
In research, a trait is a dimension defined by factors that summarize many related behaviours. It is not a moral label or a biological constant.
Think of it like this:
Vancouver’s climate tends to be rainy.
However, any given week can be sunny, windy, or cloudy.
“Rainy” describes the average tendency, not a permanent state.
Likewise, “low neuroticism” or “high openness” describes a general tendency, not a lifetime sentence.
3. Traits Are Probabilistic, Not Deterministic
Each trait is a probabilistic predictor, meaning it makes certain behaviours more likely, not inevitable.
- High Conscientiousness → more likely to plan (but can still procrastinate).
- High Neuroticism → more likely to worry (but can still have calm days).
This probabilistic nature leaves plenty of room for change through new learning, therapy, mindfulness, relationships, or significant life experiences.
4. Why the Name Stuck
Even though the term “trait” is imperfect, psychologists keep it because:
- It distinguishes longer-term patterns from temporary states (like moods).
- It allows continuity in research—decades of data use the same terminology.
- “Dimension” or “pattern” never caught on in public language the same way.
However, within modern personality psychology, everyone understands that “trait” ≠ is a “fixed essence.”
In fact, contemporary researchers often emphasize “personality plasticity”—the capacity of these traits to evolve.
5. How Therapy Fits In
Therapy operates by altering the emotional and cognitive learning that underlies trait expression.
For example:
- As emotional regulation improves (through EMDR, CorMorphosis™, or mindfulness), Neuroticism tends to drop.
- As a sense of agency and worth increases, Conscientiousness naturally rises.
You are not changing who you are; instead, you are changing how you respond to situations. Over time, this change in response will be seen as a shift in your traits.
A Simpler Way to Say It
Traits are patterns, not prisons.
They are called “traits” because they describe consistency, not because they guarantee permanence.
Are the Big Five Traits Fixed?
People used to believe that personality stays mostly the same after age 30. However, recent studies show that personality can change over time, both on its own and through our efforts.
- Meta-analyses (Roberts et al., 2006; Soto et al., 2011) show consistent changes across adulthood: people often become more conscientious, more agreeable, and less neurotic as they age.
- Intentional change studies (Hudson & Fraley, 2015) demonstrate that people who want to change specific traits—and who use structured interventions—often do.
- Therapeutic interventions (Magidson et al., 2014) show measurable shifts in Big Five scores, even over periods as short as 16 weeks.
Personality, then, is not destiny—it is a dynamic system shaped by memory, emotion, belief, and experience.
How Therapy Can Influence the Big Five Traits
Therapy helps change the emotional and cognitive patterns that influence how we think, feel, and behave.
Since the Big Five personality traits reflect these patterns, meaningful change in therapy leads to noticeable shifts in personality.
Let us explore how different types of therapy, including CorMorphosis™, can affect each personality trait.
1. Reducing Neuroticism (Emotional Reactivity and Anxiety)
- Therapies that help: EMDR, CBT, CorMorphosis™, Mindfulness-Based approaches.
- How it works: These therapies calm intense stress responses and change the memories that keep anxiety alive. CorMorphosis™ helps clients meet their deep needs for safety, self-worth, and stability through positive emotional experiences.
- Result: Less rumination and reactivity; more emotional stability and resilience.
2. Increasing Conscientiousness (Follow-Through and Self-Discipline)
- Therapies that help: Behavioural Activation, Schema Therapy, CorMorphosis™, Coaching-based CBT.
- How it works: Therapy strengthens executive functioning and motivation by resolving internal blocks such as guilt, fear of failure, or avoidance. CorMorphosis™ transforms underlying shame and helplessness into agency and purpose.
- Result: More consistent action, focus, and reliability.
3. Boosting Agreeableness (Empathy and Cooperation)
- Therapies that help: Emotion-Focused Therapy, Compassion-Focused Therapy, CorMorphosis™, Couples Therapy.
- How it works: Processing emotional injuries softens defensiveness and restores empathy. CorMorphosis™ engages the client in embodied enactments that reawaken genuine warmth without losing boundaries.
- Result: Stronger compassion, patience, and capacity for collaboration.
4. Enhancing Extraversion (Confidence and Positive Engagement)
- Therapies that help: Exposure-based CBT, Internal Family Systems, CorMorphosis™, Interpersonal Therapy.
- How it works: Many who identify as “introverted” carry unprocessed social shame or fear of rejection. CorMorphosis™ uses gentle relational experiences to rewire the association between connection and threat.
- Result: More confidence, ease, and social vitality—without losing authenticity.
5. Expanding Openness to Experience (Curiosity and Creativity)
- Therapies that help: Narrative Therapy, Jungian or Depth Work, Mindfulness, CorMorphosis™.
- How it works: Therapy increases cognitive flexibility and emotional tolerance for the unknown. CorMorphosis™ invites clients into states of exploration and wonder, encouraging a direct experience of curiosity and self-discovery.
- Result: Greater creativity, insight, and openness to new ideas and perspectives.
CorMorphosis™: A Framework for Deep Personality Change
CorMorphosis™ Psychotherapy is a hands-on approach created at Wellspring Counselling & Psychotherapy Inc. It helps change the underlying emotional memory patterns that shape a person’s personality.
It integrates:
- Embodied enactments (re-experiencing needs being met safely),
- Memory reconsolidation (rewiring emotional associations),
- Cognitive and emotional integration (aligning insight with felt change).
When clients address unmet emotional needs through experience, they can develop new traits and behaviours. Over time, these changes in the brain and in relationships lead to noticeable shifts in personality. Clients may become more emotionally balanced, self-disciplined, empathetic, and open.
Final Thoughts
The Big Five is a framework for understanding personality traits. Therapy can help change the underlying factors that shape these patterns. It does not alter your core self; instead, it helps you show your healthiest and most complete self. Your personality is not a cage; it is a pattern that can change when you create the right conditions for growth.
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