What Can We Learn From a Special Issue on Personality Dynamics?

Approaching the end of a special issue in a scientific journal bears interesting parallels to ending a psychotherapy.The key difference, of course, is that readers are not patients who come to a journal with a pressing need or suffering, and the goal of a special issue is not to relieve symptoms.And, like therapy, this special issue was probably too long for some readers or not long enough for others.Hopefully, everyone has learned something in the process and can apply the gained insight to their everyday life.In this closing commentary, we want to highlight some preliminary conclusions and future topics drawn from the articles.All articles reveal that there is a long conceptual and theory-based tradition behind today's perspectives on and measures of personality dynamics.Kerber and colleagues (2025) highlight ego-and object relations theory as well as attachment-and mentalization-oriented approaches and research from developmental psychopathology.Jauk et al. (2025) refer to motivational psychology from early psychoanalytical drive theory, trait models, affective neuroscience theory, and consistency theory, while Cropp et al. (2025) describe not just clinical perspectives but central tenets from interpersonal theory and rupture-repair models as well.Knowledge about these traditions and concepts is important, as measures used in research are created to assess constructs related to phenomena.Con-