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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
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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 

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