English summary: PERSONALITY TRAITS AND REHABILITATION FROM MAJOR DEPRESSION

Background

Personality and other psychiatric disorders are known to be associated with the occurrence and progression of and recovery from major depression. Yet little is known about the significance of personality traits in these processes. In this research we investigated the association of the personality traits of major depression patients with recovery and the restoration of work ability.

Methods

Eighty-eight percent (145) of our original 165 outpatients participated in this one-year naturalistic follow-up study. All were drawn from Southwestern Finland. They had been on sick leave because of major depression for at least two months prior to our study. Personality was assessed dimensionally with the NEO Personality Inventory. The five domains were Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Recovery from major depression was assessed by a senior psychiatrist using DSM-III-R criteria.

Results

Both women and men who recovered from major depression were more open (women p = 0.003, men p = 0.004) and extraverted (p < 0.001) and less neurotic (p < 0.001) than those who were still depressed after one year. These personality traits were also associated with the restoration of work ability. By contrast, agreeableness and conscientiousness were not related to recovery during this follow-up.

Conclusions

When planning medical treatment and rehabilitation for patients with major depression, it is important to focus not only on this psychiatric morbidity but also on personality structure and personality traits, because they too affect rehabilitation.