Abstract

Clinical validity and utility of depressive personality disorder (DPD) diagnosis were empirically studied in the present study. In specific, comorbid diagnosis of depression and depressive personality disorder was evaluated on clinical sample at the start-up and the three months follow-up, which in turn, provided information regarding its diagnostic stability. The influence of DPD score, as assessed by DID, on the duration of illness, recurrence rate, admission rate due to depression, and treatment response was tapped to explore its clinical utility. Diagnostic interview for Depressive Personality was administered to 89 patients with depressive symptoms. Severity of depression was evaluated with Beck Depression Inventory(BDI), negative cognitive patterns with Cognitive Triad Inventory(CTI) and Dysfunctional Attitude Scale(DAS). Social Adjustment Scale(SAS) was used to assess impairment in social functioning. Data on clinical variables including duration of illness, recurrence rates, admission rate due to depression, and treatment response were obtained from medical records. Follow-up study was done with the same instruments on 37 of the 89 subjects. The results indicated DPD had significant effects on various psychological variables even after the effect of depression was statistically controlled, and the effects remained unchanged at the follow-up. Results from the follow-up study also demonstrated strong diagnostic stability of DPD. The results also showed that DPD score had significant relationship with the chronicity of depressive symptoms and recurrence rate but not with admission rate or treatment response. The present study demonstrated that DPD is a clinically valid diagnosis and is useful for predicting the prognosis. Methodological limitations in evaluating the clinically depressive sample were discussed.