Personality dimensions and depression: review and commentary

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Depressive illness is a significant global health concern.
• Understanding the interplay between personality and depression is crucial for effective treatment.
• Several theoretical models attempt to explain the relationship between personality dimensions and depression.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically examine the association between dimensionally assessed personality traits and the onset, features, and course of depressive illness.
• To evaluate four hypothesized models: predisposition, pathoplasty, complication/scar, and spectrum/continuity.
• To synthesize existing research on personality dimensions and major depressive illness.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of studies involving clinically depressed adult patients.
• Analysis of research exploring the relationship between personality dimensions and depression.
• Focus on studies utilizing dimensional assessments of personality.

Main Results:

• Higher-order factors like neuroticism (strongest predictor) and negative extraversion are consistently associated with major depressive illness.
• Cloninger's Tridimensional Personality Model factors also show significant links.
• Lower-order factors including dependency, self-criticism, obsessionality, and perfectionism are related to depressive illness, with dependency and self-criticism having the strongest support.

Conclusions:

• Significant associations exist between several personality dimensions and depressive illness.
• Evidence for a definitive personality predisposition to depression remains modest.
• Personality measures may offer clinical utility in guiding treatment selection for depression.