Temperament and character traits in major depressive disorder: influence of mood state and recurrence of episodes.
BACKGROUND
The objective of this study was to compare personality traits between major depressive disorder (MDD) patients and healthy comparison subjects (HC) and examine if personality traits in patients are associated with specific clinical characteristics of the disorder.


METHODS
Sixty MDD patients (45 depressed, 15 remitted) were compared to 60 HC using the Temperament and Character Inventory. Analysis of covariance, with age and gender as covariates, was used to compare the mean Temperament and Character Inventory scores among the subject groups.


RESULTS
Depressed MDD patients scored significantly higher than HC on novelty seeking, harm avoidance, and self-transcendence and lower on reward dependence, self-directedness, and cooperativeness. Remitted MDD patients scored significantly lower than HC only on self-directedness. Comorbidity with anxiety disorder had a main effect only on harm avoidance. Harm avoidance was positively correlated with depression intensity and with number of episodes. Self-directedness had an inverse correlation with depression intensity.


CONCLUSIONS
MDD patients present a different personality profile from HC, and these differences are influenced by mood state and comorbid anxiety disorders. When considering patients who have been in remission for some time, the differences pertain to few personality dimensions. Cumulated number of depressive episodes may result in increased harm avoidance.
Nery
Fabiano G
FG
Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA), San Antonio, Texas, USA.
Hatch
John P
JP
Nicoletti
Mark A
MA
Monkul
E Serap
ES
Najt
Pablo
P
Matsuo
Koji
K
Cloninger
C Robert
CR
Soares
Jair C
JC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002605:Character; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013694:Temperament; D055815:Young Adult