Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T13:43:42.499Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Personality as a Vulnerability Factor to Depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Philip Boyce ,
Gordon Parker ,
Bryanne Barnett ,
Margaret Cooney  and
Fiona Smith
Philip Boyce*
Affiliation:
University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, Mood Disorders Unit, Prince Henry Hospital
Gordon Parker
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales
Bryanne Barnett
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales
Margaret Cooney
Affiliation:
Prince Henry Hospital
Fiona Smith
Affiliation:
Prince Henry Hospital
*
∗Department of Psychiatry, Nepean Hospital, PO Box 63, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

One hundred and forty non-depressed primiparous women in a stable relationship completed two personality measures (the EPI and the IPSM) antenatally, and were then assessed for depression at several times post-natally. The risk of depression at six months was increased up to tenfold by high interpersonal sensitivity and threefold by high neurotic ism. When previously depressed women were excluded from analyses, high interpersonal sensitivity and, to a lesser extent, high neuroticism were still associated with an increased risk of being depressed. Interpersonal sensitivity, as measured, is suggested as a refined personality risk factor to both the onset and recurrence of depression.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 159 , Issue 1 , July 1991 , pp. 106 - 114
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abrahams, K. (1911) On the psycho-analytical investigation and treatment of manic-depressive insanity and allied conditions. In Selected Papers on Psycho-analysis (pp. 137 156). London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E. P. & Teasedale, J. D. (1978) Learned helplessness in humans: critique and reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 49–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Akiskal, H. S., Hirschfeld, R. M. A. & Yerevanian, B. I. (1983) The relationship of personality to affective disorders: a critical review. Archives of General Psychiatry, 40, 801–810.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn) (DSM–III). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Angst, J. & Clayton, P. (1986) Premorbid personality of depressive, bipolar, and schizophrenic patients with special reference to suicidal issues. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 27, 511–532.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., et al (1961) An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 561–571.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Birtchnell, J. (1984) Dependence and its relationship to depression. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 57, 215–225.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boyce, P. & Parker, G. (1989) Development of a scale to measure interpersonal sensitivity. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 23, 341–351.Google Scholar
Chodoff, P. (1972) The depressive personality: a critical review. Archives of General Psychiatry, 27, 666–673.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, P. J., Campbell, E. A., Day, A., et al (1988) Non-psychotic psychiatric disorder after childbirth: a prospective study of prevalence, incidence, course and nature. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 799–806.Google Scholar
Coppen, A. (1966) The Marke-Nyman Temperament Scale: an English translation. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 39, 55–59.Google Scholar
Coppen, A. & Metcalfe, M. (1965) Effect of a depressive illness on M.P.I. scores. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 236–239.Google Scholar
Cox, J. L., Holden, J. M. & Sagovsky, R. (1987) Detection of postnatal depression: development of the 10-item Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 782–786.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H. J. & Eysenck, S. B. (1964) Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. London: Hodder & Stoughton.Google Scholar
Fleiss, J. L., Williams, J. B. W. & Dubro, A. F. (1986) The logistic regression analysis of psychiatric data. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 20, 195–209.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harris, B., Huckle, P., Thomas, R., et al (1989) The use of rating scales to identify post-natal depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 813–817.Google Scholar
Henderson, A. S. (1988) An Introduction to Social Psychiatry, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hirschfeld, R. M. A., Klerman, G. L., Korchin, S., et al (1976) Dependency – self-esteem – clinical depression. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 4, 373–388.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hirschfeld, R. M. A., Klerman, G. L., Gouoh, H. G., et al (1977) A measure of interpersonal dependency. Journal of Personality Assessment, 41, 610–618.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hirschfeld, R. M. A. & Klerman, G. L. (1979) Personality attributes and affective disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 67–70.Google ScholarPubMed
Hirschfeld, R. M. A., Klerman, G. L., Clayton, P. J., et al (1983) Assessing personality: effects of the depressive state on trait measurement. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 695–699.Google ScholarPubMed
Hirschfeld, R. M. A., Klerman, G. L., Lavori, P., et al (1989) Premorbid personality assessments of first onset major depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 345–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendell, R. E. (1985) Emotional and physical factors in the genesis of puerperal mental disorders. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 29, 3–11.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E. & DiScipio, W. J. (1968) Eysenck Personality Inventory scores of patients with depressive illness. British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 767–770.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E., McGuire, R. J., Connor, Y., et al (1981) Mood changes in the first three weeks after childbirth. Journal of Affective Disorders, 3, 317–326.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E., Mackenzie, W. E., West, C., et al (1984) Day-to-day changes after childbirth: further data. British Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 620–625.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klein, D. N. & Depue, R. A. (1985) Obsessional personality traits and risk for bipolar affective disorder: an offspring study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 291–297.Google Scholar
Kumar, R. & Robson, K. M. (1984) A prospective study of emotional disorders in childbearing women. British Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 35–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lazare, A., Klerman, G. L. & Armor, D. J. (1966) Oral, obsessive, and hysterical personality patterns: an investigation of psychoanalytic concepts by means of factor analysis. Archives of General Psychiatry, 14, 624–630.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leibowitz, M. R., Stallone, F., Dunner, D. L., et al (1979) Personality features of patients with primary affective disorder. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 6, 214–224.Google Scholar
Morris, J. A. & Gardner, M. J. (1988) Calculating confidence intervals for relative risks (odds ratios) and standardised ratios and rates. British Medical Journal, 296, 1313–1316.Google Scholar
Nott, P. N. (1987) Extent, timing and persistence of emotional disorders following childbirth. British Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 523–527.Google Scholar
Nyström, S. & Lindegard, B. (1975) Predisposition for mental syndromes: a study comparing predisposition for depression, neurasthenia and anxiety state. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 51, 69–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Hara, M. W., Rehm, L. P. & Campbell, S. B. (1983) Postpartum depression: a role for social network and life stress variables. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 171, 336–341.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Hara, M. W., Neunaber, J. & Zekoski, E. M. (1984) Prospective study of postpartum depression: prevalence, course and predictive factors. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 93, 158–171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paykel, E. S., Emms, E. M., Fletcher, J., et al (1980) Life events and social support in puerperal depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 339–346.Google Scholar
Pitt, B. (1968) “Atypical” depression following childbirth. British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 1325–1335.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1978) Research diagnostic criteria: rationale and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 36, 773–778.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stein, A., Cooper, P. J., Campbell, E. A., et al (1989) Social adversity and perinatal complications: their relation to post-natal depression. British Medical Journal, 298, 1073–1074.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, J. P., Elliott, S. A., Rugg, A. J., et al (1984) Psychiatric disorder in pregnancy and the first postnatal year. British Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 453–462.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilhelm, K. & Parker, G. (1988) The development of a measure of intimate bonds. Psychological Medicine, 18, 225–234.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Mann, S. A., Leff, J. P., et al (1978) The concept of a ‘case’ in psychiatric population surveys. Psychological Medicine, 8, 203–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.