Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T03:05:48.198Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Changes in personality traits during treatment with sertraline or Citalopram

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

Lisa Ekselius  and
Lars Von Knorring
Lisa Ekselius*
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden
Lars Von Knorring
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden
*
Lisa Ekselius, Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, University Hospital, S-751 85 Uppsala. Sweden. Tel: +46-18-66 52 27; Fax: +46-18-515810
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Recent studies indicate that selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) reduce the symptoms accompanying personality disorders and modulate a normal personality.

Aims

To examine the effect of two SSRIs, sertraline and Citalopram, on personality traits in major depressed patients.

Method

Personality traits were evaluated at baseline and after six months using the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP).

Results

After treatment, significant changes in the direction of normalisation were seen in all scales. To determine whether the observed changes could be explained by improved depressive symptoms, multiple stepwise regressions with the separate KSP as dependent variables were performed. Improvements in depressive symptoms only accounted for 0–8.4% of the observed variance.

Conclusions

In depressed patients treated with SSRIs significant effects are seen on personality traits measured by the KSP.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 174 , Issue 5 , May 1999 , pp. 444 - 448
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 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.)

Footnotes

Declaration of interest

The present study is a separate part of a large study financially supported by Pfizer AB.

References

American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised) (DSM-III-R). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Bagby, R. M., Rector, N. A., Bindseil, K., et al (1998) Self-report ratings and informants' rating of personalities of depressed outpatients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 155, 437–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benjaminsen, S. (1981) Primary non-endogenous depression and features attributed to reactive depression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 3, 245–259.Google Scholar
Cloninger, C. R. (1987) A systematic method for clinical description and classification of personality variants: a proposal. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 573–588.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coccaro, E. F. & Kavoussi, R. J. (1996) Neurotransmitter correlates of impulsive aggression. In The Neurobiology of Clinical Aggression (eds Stoff, D. M. & Cairns, R. B.), pp. 67–85. Hillsdale, Nj: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Coccaro, E. F. & Kavoussi, R. J. (1997) Fluoxetine and impulsive aggressive behavior in personality-disordered subjects. Archives of General Psychiatry, 54, 1081–1088.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ekselius, L., Hetta, J. & von Knot-ring, L. (1994) Relationship between personality traits as determined by means of the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP) and personality disorders according to DSM-III-R. Personality and Individual Differences, 14, 589–595.Google Scholar
Ekselius, L., von Knorring, L. & Eberhard, G. (1997) A double-blind multicenter trial comparing sertraline and Citalopram in patients with major depression treated in general practice. International Clinical Psychopharmacology, 12, 323–331.Google Scholar
Fava, M., Rosenbaum, J. F., Pava, J. A., et al (1993) Anger attacks in unipolar depression. Part I: clinical correlates and response to fluoxetine treatment. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 1158–1163.Google Scholar
Fava, M., Bouffides, E., Pava, J. A., et al (1994) Personality disorder comorbidity with major depression and response to fluoxetine treatment. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 62, 160–167.Google Scholar
Gustavsson, J. P. (1997) Stability and validity of self-reported personality traits. Contributions to the evaluation of the Karolinska Scales of Personality. Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Clinical Neuroscience and the Institute for Environmental Medicine. Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.Google Scholar
Guy, W. (1976) Clinical Global Impressions. In ECDEU Manual, US Dept of Health and Human Services, pp. 217–222. Rockville, MD: NIMH.Google Scholar
Hirschfeld, R. M. A., Klerman, G. I., Lavori, P., et al (1989) Premorbid personality assessments of first onset of major depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 345–350.Google Scholar
Knutson, B., Wolkowitz, O. M., Cole, S. W., et al (1998) Selective alteration of personality and social behavior by serotonergic intervention. American Journal of Psychiatry, 155, 373–379.Google Scholar
Montgomery, S. & Åsberg, M. (1979) A new depression scale designed to be sensitive to change. British Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 382–389.Google Scholar
Perris, C., Eisemann, M., Eriksson, U., et al (1979) Variations in self-assessment of personality characteristics in depressed patients, with special reference to aspects of aggression. Psychiatrica Clinica, 12, 209–215.Google ScholarPubMed
Salzman, C., Wolfson, A. N., Schatzberg, A., et al (1995) Effect of fluoxetine on anger in symptomatic volunteers with borderline personality disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 15, 23–29.Google Scholar
Schalling, D., Åsberg, M., Edman, G., et al (1987) Temperament traits associated with platelet MAO activity. Acto Psychiatrica Scandinavico, 76, 172 182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shea, M. T., Leon, A. C., Mueller, T. I., et al (1996) Does major depression result in lasting personality change? American Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 1404–1410.Google Scholar
von Zerssen, D. (1977) Premorbid personality and affective psychoses. In Handbook of Studies on Depression (ed. Burrows, G. D.), pp. 79–103. Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica.Google Scholar
Zuckerman, M. (1995) Good and bad humors: biochemical bases of personality and its disorders. Psychological Science, 6, 325–332.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.