Johannes Zimmermann

University of Kassel · Department of Psychology

Introduction: Dimensional models of personality disorders (PD) in the DSM-5 and ICD-11 share a focus on impairments in self and interpersonal functioning to represent the general features and severity of PD. This new perspective has led to the development of numerous measures for assessing individual differences in PD severity. While this improves...

The current classification systems for mental disorders, DSM-5 and ICD-11, have been criticized for their lack of structural validity and their arbitrary categorical distinction between mental disorders and mental health. In response, the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) consortium has emerged to propose an alternative model for con...

Aktuelle Klassifikationssysteme für psychische Störungen wie das DSM-5 und ICD-11 stehen zunehmend in der Kritik, die Komplexität psychischer Probleme nicht adäquat abzubilden. Ungünstig sind insbesondere die implizite Orientierung am medizinischen Krankheitsmodell, die mangelnde strukturelle Validität sowie die kategoriale Abgrenzung zu psychische...

The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) features a new classification of personality disorders (PD), focusing on the severity of PD. Although there are numerous self-report measures that assess PD severity, to date only the Personality Disorder Severity-ICD-11 (PDS-ICD-11) is based on ICD-11's operationalization of PD. Initial results...

Dimensional models are becoming increasingly important in the classification of personality disorders. A central concept of this paradigm shift is the notion of a continuum of personality functioning ranging from a healthy to an extremely disturbed personality. In the Alternative Model for Personality Disorders in DSM-5 Section III, this concept co...

In this registered report ( N = 423), we investigated in a competitive intergroup context to what extent the perception of targets scoring high in grandiose narcissism varies depending on whether they belong to one’s own group or to an opposing outgroup. In a laboratory study, members of newly formed groups had direct contact with another group and...

Both Kernberg's model of personality organization and the alternative model for personality disorders (AMPD) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5th edition provide a multidimensional framework for assessing personality pathology, while having a dual focus on general and specific personality pathology. The present study was...

This pragmatic study evaluates the long-term effectiveness of two forms of psychoanalytically oriented therapy, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (PP) and Analytical Psychotherapy (AP), in routine care in Germany. Four hundred and twenty-eight patients diagnosed with various DSM-IV mental disorders were treated with PP or AP and provided annual self-repo...

Research in psychology can have various foci, ranging from the psychological dynamics of single individuals to the generalization across individuals, often termed idiographics and nomothetics, respectively. However, terminological ambiguities have limited communication clarity about idiographics and nomothetics. Importantly, whether studies are sui...

Ambulatory assessment is widely popular in research settings for its ability to assess real world functioning in context. It can be useful for estimating an individual’s typical level of a behavior (individual mean), how (un)stable that behavior is (individual standard deviation), how behaviors associate with others or specific contexts (within-per...

Objective: With meta-analytically estimated rates of about 25%, dropout in psychotherapies is a major concern forindividuals, clinicians, and the healthcare system at large. To be able to counteract dropout in psychotherapy, accurate insights about its predictors are needed. Method: We compared logistic regression models with two machine learning...

The COVID-19 pandemic, marked by the threat of infection, severe illness, and stringent public health measures, has significantly transformed the lives of individuals. This challenging scenario provides a valuable context for examining the potential impact of such disruption on maladaptive personality traits—dispositions that can lead to distress,...

The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) arranges phenotypes of mental disorders based on empirical covariation, ranging from narrowly defined symptoms to higher-order spectra of psychopathology. Since the introduction of personality functioning (PF) in DSM-5 and ICD-11, several studies have identified PF as a predictor of transdiagnost...

Research in psychology can have various foci, ranging from the psychological dynamics of single individuals to the generalization across individuals, often termed idiographics and nomothetics, respectively. However, terminological ambiguities have limited communication clarity about idiographics and nomothetics. Importantly, whether studies are sui...

The DSM-5 Alternative Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD) and ICD-11 adopt a dimensional approach to personality disorders, defining them in terms of impairments of self-related (identity, self-direction) and interpersonal (empathy, intimacy) personality functions. This study examined the clinical utility of a clinician-rated global evaluation o...

People make countless decisions every day. We explored the self-regulatory function of decisions and assumed that the very act of making a decision in everyday life enhances people’s mood. We expected that this decision-related mood change would be more pronounced for intuitive decisions than for analytical ones. The ease of making a decision and t...

Introduction: The alternative model for personality disorders (AMPD) of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - 5th edition (DSM-5) considers impairments in empathy a basic feature of personality disorders (PDs). In contrast, the AMPD pathological personality trait model and the categorical DSM-5 Section II PD model associate d...

The classification of personality disorder (PD) is undergoing a paradigm shift in which categorically defined specific PDs are being replaced by dimensionally defined maladaptive trait domains. To bridge the classificatory approaches, this study attempts to use items from the categorical PD model in DSM-IV to measure the maladaptive trait domains d...

Mindreading ability—also referred to as cognitive empathy or mentalizing—is typically conceptualized as a relatively stable dimension of individual differences in the ability to make accurate inferences about the mental states of others. This construct is primarily assessed using self-report questionnaires and task-based performance measures. Howev...

Mindreading ability—also referred to as cognitive empathy or mentalizing—is typically conceptualized as a relatively stable dimension of individual differences in the ability to make accurate inferences about the mental states of others. This construct is primarily assessed using self-report questionnaires and task-based performance measures. Howev...

Patterns of correlations among judgments of targets on different items are the basis for common psychometric procedures such as factor analysis and network modeling. The outcomes of such analyses may shape the images (i.e., theories) that we as scientists have of the phenomena that we study. However, key conceptual issues tend to be overlooked in t...

The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) arranges phenotypes of mental disorders based on empirical covariation, ranging from narrowly defined symptoms to higher-order spectra of psychopathology. Since the introduction of personality functioning (PF) in DSM-5 and ICD-11, several studies have identified PF as a transdiagnostic predictor...

Conceptual work integrating constructs from mainstream personality research (especially socalled “dark” traits) and clinical psychopathology research has been limited. Herein, we propose all socially and/or ethically aversive traits as “flavored” manifestation of the D-Factor of Personality (D). We argue that the D-framework provides the commonalit...

The classification of personality disorder (PD) is undergoing a paradigm shift in which categorically defined specific PDs are being replaced by dimensionally defined maladaptive trait domains. To bridge the classificatory approaches, this study attempts to use items from the categorical PD model in DSM-IV to measure the maladaptive trait domains d...

Introduction The ICD-11 and DSM-5 are the leading systems for the classification of mental disorders, and their relevance for clinical work and research, as well as their impact for policy making and legal questions, has increased considerably. In recent years, other frameworks have been proposed to supplement or even replace the ICD and the DSM, r...

Background: There is an increasing interest in conceptualizing psychopathology in terms of transdiagnostic dimensions and processes. These can be organized hierarchically, for instance, aggression and harmful substance use are specific manifestations of externalizing psychopathology. However, most of this work is cross-sectional and focuses on indi...

The Self and Interpersonal Functioning Scale (SIFS) is a 24-item self-report questionnaire assessing personality functioning according to the alternative DSM-5 model for personality disorders. We evaluated the German SIFS version in a total sample of 886 participants from Germany and Switzerland. Its factor structure was investigated with confirmat...

This chapter describes the collaborative process that is underway to develop measures for the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP). Research utility and clinical translation of the model require measures that are keyed to the model. The Measures Development Workgroup of HiTOP is developing both questionnaire and interview methods that (...

People often attribute success to themselves and failure to others. Past research indicates that this tendency toward self-serving attributions is pronounced among individuals high in trait narcissism. The aim of this registered report was to re-visit the link between narcissism and self-serving attributions by studying attributions in a group cont...

The factor structure of Personality Disorder (PD) criteria has long been debated, but due to previous heterogenous findings, a common structure to represent covariation among DSM-IV/DSM-5 Section II PD criteria remains an open question. This study integrated a total of N = 30,545 PD assessments from 25 samples to conduct an individual participant m...

Objective With meta-analytically estimated rates of about 25%, dropout in psychotherapies is a major concern for individuals, clinicians, and the healthcare system at large. To be able to counteract dropout in psychotherapy, accurate insights about its predictors are needed. Method We compared logistic regression models with two machine learning a...

The interpersonal circumplex (IPC) is an established model to describe individual and dyadic interpersonal phenomena along the orthogonal dimensions of control and affiliation. This study aims to adapt and validate the Impact Message Inventory (IMI) to assess impact messages (perceptions of and covert reactions to interpersonal styles) in parents a...

The goal of this research was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Level of Personality Functioning Scale - Brief Form - 2.0 (LPFS-BF-2.0) in Brazilian samples. Therefore, two samples were used in this study, one with 415 and the other with 1,011 Brazilians. Participants completed the Brazilian version of the LPFS-BF-2.0 and other meas...

Background Mental disorders (MDs) are one of the leading causes for workforce sickness absence and disability worldwide. The burden, costs and challenges are enormous for the individuals concerned, employers and society at large. Although most MDs are characterised by a high risk of relapse after treatment or by chronic courses, interventions that...

Now in its fourth edition, the acclaimed Oxford Textbook of Psychopathology aims for both depth and breadth, with a focus on adult disorders and special attention given to personality disorders. It provides an unparalleled guide for professionals and students alike. Esteemed editors Robert F. Krueger and Paul H. Blaney selected the most eminent res...

Now in its fourth edition, the acclaimed Oxford Textbook of Psychopathology aims for both depth and breadth, with a focus on adult disorders and special attention given to personality disorders. It provides an unparalleled guide for professionals and students alike. Esteemed editors Robert F. Krueger and Paul H. Blaney selected the most eminent res...

Etiological theories on the development of psychopathology often incorporate adverse childhood experiences (ACE) as an important contributing factor. Recent studies suggest personality functioning (PF; i.e., stability of the self and interpersonal relationships) as an important transdiagnostic construct that could be useful in better understanding...

We tested the predictive validity of personality disorder (PD) indicators at different levels of aggregation, ranging from general PD severity to PD syndrome scales to individual PD criteria. We compared the predictive validity of models on these levels based on interview data on all 78 DSM-IV PD criteria, by using 19 outcome scales in three differ...

The current study examined whether personality domains have nonmonotonic relationships with functional outcomes, specifically in relation to quality of life and impairment. Four samples were utilized, which were drawn from the United States and Germany. Personality trait domains were measured via the IPIP-NEO and PID-5; quality of life (QoL) was me...

Objectives: The current research explored the interplay between intuition, meaning in life, and psychopathology. Specifically, we investigated whether experiential and reflective components of meaning in life are associated with depressive symptoms and personality pathology, whether intuition is related to the experience of meaning, and whether ps...

In this paper, we introduce multi-modal Social Relations Analysis as a powerful tool for studying personality pathology that tackles several important limitations of existing research. By implementing a design in which groups of participants provide repeated ratings as they interact, researchers can gather data on individuals' mutual perceptions, a...

The expanded version of the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS-II) is a 99-item self-report measure containing 18 nonoverlapping dimensional scales assessing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and mania. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a German adaptation of the IDAS-II. Participants from a community sample (N = 1,05...

The Interpersonal Sensitivities Circumplex (ISC) assesses individual differences in sensitivities to aversive interpersonal behaviors. In this research (total N = 1,519), we developed and validated a German adaptation of the ISC (ISC-G) and extended the nomological net of interpersonal sensitivity as a construct. Using the structural summary method...

Purpose of Review Individuals with personality disorders are frequently seen in mental health settings. Their symptoms typically reflect a high level of suffering and burden of disease, with potentially harmful societal consequences, including costs related to absenteeism at work, high use of health services, ineffective or harmful parenting, subst...

The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) organizes phenotypes of mental disorder based on empirical covariation, offering a comprehensive organizational framework from narrow symptoms to broader patterns of psychopathology. We argue that established self‐report measures of psychopathology from the pre‐HiTOP era should be systematically...

The LoPF-Q 12–18 (Levels of Personality Functioning Questionnaire) was designed for clinical use and to promote early detection of personality disorder (PD). It is a self-report measure with 97 items to assess personality functioning in adolescents from 12 years up. It operationalizes the dimensional concept of personality disorder (PD) severity us...

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-fifth Edition’s (DSM-5) Level of Personality Functioning Scale (LPFS) was introduced as a dimensional rating of impairments in self- and interpersonal functioning, and the LPFS–Brief Form (LPFS-BF) was the first published corresponding self-report. The updated LPFS-BF 2.0 has been translated...

Zusammenfassung Mit der 11. Version der International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11) erfolgt ein Paradigmenwechsel in der Diagnostik von Persönlichkeitsstörungen: Deren Klassifikation erfolgt künftig nicht mehr kategorial, sondern dimensional entlang der Schweregrade von Persönlichkeitsbeeinträchtigungen...

Die Annahme klar trennbarer Störungsentitäten in kategorialen Diagnosesystemen wird zunehmend in Frage gestellt. In diesem Beitrag werden Angstproblematiken dimensional betrachtet und in ein hierarchisch organisiertes Modell von Psychopathologie eingebettet. Differenzielle Chronifizierungs- und Schweregrade werden vor dem Hintergrund basaler psychi...

The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) organizes phenotypes of mental disorder based on empirical covariation, offering a comprehensive organizational framework from narrow symptoms to broader patterns of psychopathology. We argue that established self-report measures of psychopathology from the pre-HiTOP era should be systematically...

In their target article, Morey et al. (2022) provide a comprehensive overview of research on Criterion A over the past ten years. Although this overview is undoubtedly informative and helpful, it offers little guidance on both certain weaknesses of Criterion A and research gaps and needs. A structural reason for this could be that the scientific fi...

This study examines how often and why suspects who have reported being either guilty or innocent remain silent, confess, or deny accusations in police interview situations. Convicted offenders under current probation or parole in Germany (N = 280) completed a questionnaire about their perceptions of up to six specific police interview situations th...

The ICD-11 features a new classification of personality disorders (PD), focusing on the severity of PD. Although there are numerous self-report measures that assess PD severity, to date only the Personality Disorder Severity ICD-11 (PDS-ICD-11) is based on ICD-11’s operationalization of PD. Initial results indicated that the PDS-ICD-11 measures a u...

Introduction: Prevalence of suicidal thoughts and behaviours is higher among patients with borderline personality disorder than the general population. However, evidence concerning the role of specific borderline symptoms for predicting suicide-related outcomes is lacking and no systematic review/meta-analysis (SR/MA) investigated this topic. Our...

The LoPF-Q 12-18 (Levels of Personality Functioning Questionnaire) was designed for clinical use and to promote early detection of personality disorder (PD). It is a self-report measure with 97 items to assess personality functioning in adolescents from 12 years up. It operationalizes the dimensional concept of personality disorder (PD) severity us...

In this paper, we introduce multi-modal Social Relations Analysis as a powerful tool for studying personality pathology that tackles several important limitations of existing research. By implementing a design in which groups of participants provide repeated ratings as they interact, researchers can gather data on individuals' mutual perceptions, a...

Background Advancements in the treatment of depression are pivotal due to high levels of non-response and relapse. This study evaluated the role of personality pathology in the treatment of depression by testing whether maladaptive personality traits (1) predict changes in depression over treatment or vice versa , (2) change themselves over treatme...

According to the alternative model for personality disorders (AMPD) of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM–5), a moderate or greater impairment in personality functioning is the essential criterion for a personality disorder diagnosis. Personality functioning is operationalized in the Level of Personality F...

Synthetic metacognition is a heterogeneous construct related to psychotic disorders. One important tool to assess this construct is the Metacognition Assessment Scale - Abbreviated (MAS-A). In this study, we investigated the latent structure as well as the interrater reliability and convergent and incremental validity of the MAS-A in a sample of pa...

Both clinical and personality psychologists are interested in assessing personality change, although they have tended to approach the issue in different ways. In this paper we argue that both sub-fields should focus more on basic issues in the assessment of personality change, and that they would make more progress on this issue together than alone...

The present study examined how personality traits manifest in daily life of older adults and distinguished between the manifestations of experiences and behaviors. We used data from an ambulatory assessment study over 10 days with assessments of trait-related experiences and behaviors obtained from 136 older adults aged between 60 and 91 years (41....

Objective: We examine the trajectories of and the dynamic interplay between cognitive functioning and depressive symptoms in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) in comparison to healthy controls (HC) from an intraindividual perspective. Method: The DeNoPa study is a single-center, observational, longitudinal study with biennial follow-ups over 8...

Introduction: Treatment as usual (TAU) is the most frequently used control group in randomized trials of psychotherapy for depression. Concerns have been raised that the heterogeneity of treatments in TAU leads to biased estimates of psychotherapy efficacy and to an unclear difference between TAU and control groups like waiting list (WL). Objecti...

The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) is a quantitative nosological system that addresses shortcomings of traditional mental disorder diagnoses, including arbitrary boundaries between psychopathology and normality, frequent disorder co-occurrence, substantial heterogeneity within disorders, and diagnostic unreliability over time and...

In their target article, Morey et al. (2022) provide a comprehensive overview of research on Criterion A over the past ten years. Although this overview is undoubtedly informative and helpful, it offers little guidance on both certain weaknesses of Criterion A and research gaps and needs. A structural reason for this could be that the scientific fi...

Attachment and mentalizing are central concepts in research on the etiology, course, and treatment of depression. The goal of this cross-sectional study was to clarify the unique value of these constructs in characterizing the presence, severity, and chronicity of depression. We examined 50 female inpatients suffering from Major Depressive Disorder...

The Certainty About Mental States Questionnaire (CAMSQ) is a self-report measure of the perceived capacity to understand mental states of the self and others (i.e., mentalizing). In two studies (total N = 1828), we developed the CAMSQ in both English and German as a two-dimensional measure of Self- and Other-Certainty, investigated associations wit...

This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note...

The Expanded Version of the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS-II) is a 99-item self-report measure containing 18 nonoverlapping dimensional scales assessing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and mania. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a German adaptation of the IDAS-II. Participants from a community sample (N = 1054...

This article presents an overview of the current state of knowledge in personality judgment research. We discuss accuracy and bias in personality judgments, including types of inter-rater agreement and elements of criteria used to determine levels of agreement and accuracy. We then address 1) the words and phrases that people use to describe one an...

Zusammenfassung. Die Erfassung von Kindheitserfahrungen stellt einen wichtigen Baustein für Verständnis und Behandlung psychischer Belastungen im Erwachsenenalter dar. Dabei kommt der Erfassung protektiver Kindheitserfahrungen neben etablierten aversiven Erlebnissen eine wachsende Bedeutung zu. Ziel der vorliegenden Studie ist die Erstellung einer...

The current study examined the continuity of personality disorder (PD) diagnoses from Section II to Section III (alternative model for personality disorders [AMPD]) when using structured interviews. We investigated the continuity both in terms of stability of prevalence rates and in terms of convergent validity. A clinical sample of 189 participant...

It is common for people with mental health problems to report feelings of emptiness. However, the association of subjective emptiness with specific disorders and its unique role within dimensional taxonomies of personality pathology is not well understood. The present study assesses the transdiagnostic value of subjective emptiness using a recently...

The Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ) is an 8-item self-report measure of reflective functioning that is presumed to capture individual differences in hypo- and hypermentalizing. Despite its broad acceptance by the field, we argue that the validity of the measure is not well-established. The current research elaborates on problems of the R...

Objective: Especially for adult patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), treatment response is generally low to moderate. The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) as adjunctive treatment for AN regarding clinical and cognitive outcomes. Method: In this randomized controlled superiority trial, 167 adult and...

The 11th version of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11) marks a paradigm shift in the diagnosis of personality disorders: In the near future, their classification will no longer be categorical, but dimensional along the severity of personality impairments and optionally regarding the presenc...

Background Attachment insecurity is a prominent risk factor for the development and course of psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders. The Experiences in Close Relationships - Revised (ECR-R) questionnaire is a widely used self-report to assess attachment related anxiety and avoidance. However, its length has the potential to restrict its use in la...

Fragestellung: Inzwischen existieren psychodynamische Selbsteinschätzungsinstrumente zur Erfassung von Struktur und Konflikt als Aspekte der Persönlichkeit. Bezüge zum psychologischen Big-Five-Modell, dem durch einen Paradigmenwechsel in den medizinischen Klassifikationssystemen von Persönlichkeitsstörungen eine größere Bedeutung zukommt, sind bish...