Abstract
Background. Support has been found for high harm avoidance as general vulnerability trait for depression and decreased self-directedness (SD) as central state-related personality change. Additional personality characteristics could be present in psychotic depression (PD). Increased noradrenergic activation in PD predicts the involvement of reward dependence (RD). Methods. The data during the acute episode and after full remission from the same subjects, that we used before, were reanalyzed. The dependence of the 7 dimensions of the Temperament and Character Inventory version 9 on PD, three other subcategories of depression, and a group of normal controls was tested by MANCOVA. Results. Low RD at both time points, and low Cooperativeness during the acute episode, were found as additional characteristics of PD. Conclusion. The combination of two premorbid temperaments, high HA and low RD, and the development of a state-related reduction of two character functions, SD and CO, may be the precondition for the development of combined depressive and psychotic psychopathology.
Highlights
The relation between personality and depression is complex, because of the many different types of relationships that have been found
A MANCOVA that used the 4 subcategories of depression and the control group as 5 fixed factors, showed that psychotic depression (PD) was characterized by low CO (t = −2.949; P = 0.004) and low reward dependence (RD) (t = −2.717; P = 0.007), and ANA-R still had low RD (t = −2.718; P = 0.007) with low CO (t = −2.237; P = 0.027)
This study confirmed the hypothesis that PD is related to RD
Summary
The relation between personality and depression is complex, because of the many different types of relationships that have been found. Personality characteristics may be operative as premorbid vulnerability traits, pathoplastic traits, reversible state-dependent changes of personality that may have a pathoplastic or pathogenetic function, and even irreversible scars. As far as we know, this type of investigation has not been carried out before This is a shortcoming from the theoretical perspective, and from the practical point of view, since vulnerability traits and pathogenetic personality changes could have important therapeutic consequences. Support has been found for high harm avoidance as general vulnerability trait for depression and decreased selfdirectedness (SD) as central state-related personality change. The combination of two premorbid temperaments, high HA and low RD, and the development of a state-related reduction of two character functions, SD and CO, may be the precondition for the development of combined depressive and psychotic psychopathology
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