Temperament and character as a predictor of response to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in patients with majordepressive disorder

Abstract

Background: Personality is one of the most important factors affecting the treatment course of patients with psychiatric disorders. Objective: The present study aimed to find the possible relationship between personality factors and response to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors treatment for major depression. Method: One hundred and seven patients with mild or moderate major depression treated with citalopram, sertraline or fluoxetine for two months enrolled in the present prospective study. Every patients were evaluated by Hamilton depression test (as pre-test and post-test) and Temperament and Character Inventory questionnaire (as pre-test) and their response to treatment evaluated base on their Hamilton depression test. Results: The mean age of the patients was 39.7 years and most of the population were female (71.9%). The results showed that reward dependence (OR=1.18, P =0.05), age (OR=1.07, P=0.002) and cooperativeness (OR=0.76, P <0.001) had significant effect on the likelihood of being non-responsiveness to the treatment. Logistic regression showed that the effect of temperament and character, gender, age, and depression score at the beginning of the treatment indicated that only cooperativeness (B =-0.21, P<0.01) predicted response to treatment. Conclusion: Temperament and character or at least some of their traits may predispose response to depression treatment.