The role of personality in recurrent and chronic depression

Recent research has suggested that individuals with chronic depression have higher rates of personality disorders than those with a more episodic course of depression. Consistent with earlier work, personality features and disorders have been shown to predict a poorer outcome for individuals treated for depression, suggesting a role in the maintenance of depression. Although childhood trauma has been associated with the presence of borderline and possibly antisocial personality disorder, as well as with chronic and recurrent depression, two studies addressing the role of personality disorders as mediators of the relationship between childhood trauma and these forms of adult depression found no effects for the personality variables investigated. More studies addressing hypothesized mechanisms of relationships between personality and chronic and recurrent depression are needed.