title: Spirituality and Its Relationship with Personality in Depressed People: Preliminary Findings.
abstract: The relationship between spirituality and personality in patients with depression is complex and not much explored. The aim of our study is to examine the interconnection between the spiritual quality of life (QoL) and Cloninger's psychobiological model of personality in patients with depression. The sample consisted of 85 consecutive outpatients treated for depression. The measurements used were: Beck Depression Inventory, WHO-Quality of Life-Spiritual, Religious, Personal Beliefs, and Temperament and Character Inventory. The results have shown that higher harm avoidance, lower self-directedness and lower cooperativeness are personality dimensions associated with depression. The spiritual QoL has showed to play a significant role in depression, just as it has proved to be a unique predictor of lower depressive symptoms, adjusted for personality dimensions. The spiritual QoL itself is predicted by personality dimensions, self-directedness and self-transcendence implying that spirituality is a broader construct than the character dimension. Our findings may contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of depression, spirituality and personality.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatry Department, General Hospital Virovitica, Gajeva 21, 33 000, Virovitica, Croatia. saneanadj@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Sanea
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mihaljević
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Clinical Hospital Center, Kišpatićeva 12, 10 000, Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Branka
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Aukst-Margetić
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Clinical Hospital Center, Kišpatićeva 12, 10 000, Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Bjanka
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vuksan-Ćusa
authors.affiliation: Psychiatry Department, General Hospital Virovitica, Gajeva 21, 33 000, Virovitica, Croatia.
authors.forename: Snježana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karničnik
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Clinical Hospital Center, Kišpatićeva 12, 10 000, Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Miro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jakovljević
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002605:Character; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010551:Personality; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D029181:Spirituality; D013694:Temperament
keywords: Depression; Personality; Psychobiological model; Spirituality