Life events and personality traits in obsessive-compulsive neurosis

Twenty-five patients with obsessive-compulsive neurosis and matched controls had their life event scores (Paykel's Life Event Schedule) rated for the year prior to the onset of illness and the date of interview, respectively. The Standard Assessment of Personality Schedule, whose high inter-temporal and inter-informant reliability was confirmed, was used to rate the patients' premorbid personality. The obsessive-compulsive patients' mean life event score was significantly higher than the control subjects; and this excess spanned the six months prior to the onset of illness. Patients with abnormal personality traits (obsessional, anxious and self-conscious) experienced significantly fewer life events than those without such traits.