Object loss and object relations in depressive personality analogues

The author investigated the extent to which self-reported early object loss and Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) measures of object relations differentiated individuals with a depressive personality from dysthymic persons and highly dependent individuals. In an undergraduate analogue sample of 54 students, those with a depressive personality reported a nonsignificantly higher proportion of object loss than did dysthymic and highly dependent participants. Those in the depressive personality and dependent groups had less complex representations of others than did those with dysthymia, and those with a depressive personalitiy and dysthymia tended to view others in a more negative, pessimistic fashion than did the highly dependent individuals. The author concludes that persons with a depressive personality can be identified, in part, by their experience of object loss and their distinctive object relations.