The Relationship between Major Depressive Disorder and Personality Traits

The aim of this study was to compare the clinical temperaments and characters of Iranian patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) with healthy controls.

The study participants included 47 outpatients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and 120 normal controls with no psychiatric disorders. Sampling method was convenience. The MDD patients were diagnosed as MDD by a psychiatrist using the Persian structured clinical interview for axis I disorders (SCID-I), and they completed at least 8 weeks of antidepressant treatment. All the patients filled out the Persian version of the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). Data were analyzed using SPSS version 17, Chi square, T test and Multiple Regression. The level of significance was set at 5%.

The present study demonstrates a link between depression and lower persistence (p≤0.001), self-directedness (p≤0.001) and cooperativeness (p≤0.001) scores. A negative correlation between age and Harm Avoidance (p≤0.001) was observed in both groups.

Lower scores of persistence (P), self-directedness (SD) and cooperativeness (CO) were observed in patients with depression more than controls even in the remission phase which could indicate a relationship between these traits and depression.