Changes in personality traits during treatment with sertraline or citalopram.
BACKGROUND
Recent studies indicate that selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) reduce the symptoms accompanying personality disorders and modulate a normal personality.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the effect of two SSRIs, sertraline and citalopram, on personality traits in major depressed patients.


METHODS
Personality traits were evaluated at baseline and after six months using the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP).


RESULTS
After treatment, significant changes in the direction of normalisation were seen in all scales. To determine whether the observed changes could be explained by improved depressive symptoms, multiple stepwise regressions with the separate KSP as dependent variables were performed. Improvements in depressive symptoms only accounted for 0-8.4% of the observed variance.


CONCLUSIONS
In depressed patients treated with SSRIs significant effects are seen on personality traits measured by the KSP.
Ekselius
L
L
Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden.
Von Knorring
L
L
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015283:Citalopram / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality / Q000187:drug effects*; D010552:Personality Assessment; D012044:Regression Analysis; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D020280:Sertraline / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation; D015283:Citalopram; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors; D020280:Sertraline