The therapeutic personality in the therapeutic community

Identified personality characteristics associated with the rated ability of various types of mental hospital support personnel to interact in a therapeutically beneficial manner with patients. The Gordon Personal Profile, the Gordon Personal Inventory, the Work Environment Preference Schedule, and an experimental mental health aptitude test were administered to the female support personnel in 6 state hospitals (N = 257). Ss judged by peers to be the more effective were inclined to take their responsibilities seriously, to be emotionally stable, to be cautious, to have trust and confidence in other people, to be nonbureaucratic in their work orientation, and to be aware of the therapeutically preferred procedures for handling patients. Few significant relationships were found with the supervisory ratings.