Measures of temperament and character are differentially impacted on by depression severity.
BACKGROUND
Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) is a widely used measure of personality. Two scales of the TCI, harm avoidance (HA) and self directedness (SD), have been shown to be influenced by depressed mood. We examined how the seven TCI scales and their subscales are correlated with depression severity before and after treatment. We also examined whether changes in personality measures could be attributed to changes in depression severity.


METHODS
Two clinical samples of depressed out-patients were recruited for trials to examine predictors of treatment response to antidepressants (N=195) and psychotherapies (N=177). Assessment included the Montgomery-Asberg depression rating scales (MADRS), Hopkins Symptom Checklist (SCL-90) and TCI at baseline and after treatment.


RESULTS
After treatment, in both samples, depression severity correlated significantly with HA and negatively with SD. Multiple regression analysis revealed that changes in SD and HA over treatment were related to improvement in depression. In the psychotherapy trial baseline MADRS scores correlated with low SD and high HA.


CONCLUSIONS
The trial results are applicable to mild-moderately depressed out-patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Depression severity influences the total scales and most of the subscale measures of HA and SD. Some personality traits, as measured by the TCI, were not impacted upon by mood. Clinically mood should be taken into account when assessing personality measures of negative affect using the TCI.
Spittlehouse
J K
JK
Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, Christchurch, New Zealand. janet.spittlehouse@otago.ac.nz
Pearson
J F
JF
Luty
S E
SE
Mulder
R T
RT
Carter
J D
JD
McKenzie
J M
JM
Joyce
P R
PR
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000187:drug effects; D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005473:Fluoxetine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009661:Nortriptyline / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010551:Personality / Q000187:drug effects; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013694:Temperament
D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation; D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic; D005473:Fluoxetine; D009661:Nortriptyline