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Does recurrent depression lead to a change in neuroticism?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Conor F. Duggan ,
Pak Sham ,
Alan S. Lee  and
Robin M. Murray
Conor F. Duggan*
Affiliation:
Genetics Section, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry and King's College Hospital, London; Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Nottingham
Pak Sham
Affiliation:
Genetics Section, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry and King's College Hospital, London; Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Nottingham
Alan S. Lee
Affiliation:
Genetics Section, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry and King's College Hospital, London; Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Nottingham
Robin M. Murray
Affiliation:
Genetics Section, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry and King's College Hospital, London; Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Nottingham
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Conor F. Duggan, Genetics Section, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF.
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Synopsis

The hypothesis that recurrent or chronic depressive illness produces a long-term change in neuroticism was examined in a sample (N = 34) from a consecutive series of 89 depressed patients admitted to the Maudsley Hospital in 1965/6. The Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) was administered at the time of the index illness both when the patients were depressed and on recovery, and then again at follow-up 18 years later. The change in the neuroticism (N) score over the 18-year-period was compared in good and poor outcome groups defined variously by a global rating of outcome, frequency of episodes, extent of subsequent hospitalization and the presence or absence of subsequent chronicity. The mean N score for the sample as a whole did not change significantly over the 18 years, and no differential change in the N score was observed between any of the good and poor outcome groups. Thus, the hypothesis was not supported.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , November 1991 , pp. 985 - 990
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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