Personality and the prediction of long-term outcome of depression.
In a follow-up study of 150 women who had undergone treatment on an outpatient basis for acute depression, it was found that the most important predictor of their long-term clinical outcome (8, 20, and 48 months after the acute episode) was personality as measured by the Neuroticism Scale of the Maudsley Personality Inventory (MPI-N). Age, race, social class, marital status, religion, number of previous depressions or suicide attempts, diagnosis, history of early deaths of or separations from significant others, history of neurotic traits as a child, amount and type of stress in the 6 months before onset, and severity and pattern of pretreatment symptoms were not predictive of outcome.
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D010551:Personality; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011613:Psychotherapy