Personality traits in depressed patients

Objective: In this study, we aim to evaluate the relationship between depression and personality types. Method: Our study is performed on a total of 456 people aged between 18-64 and applied to Atatürk University Medical Faculty Polyclinic of Family Medicine and Atatürk University Acupuncture and Complementary Medical Methods Application and Research Center (ATYAM) between 25.10.2016-15.02. dates, 228 of them were diagnosed with depression by a psychiatric specialist and had no other psychiatric disorder and 228 of them were control group who were healthy and had no psychiatric diagnosis of depression. In order to determine the personal information collection form and personality types of both groups, Taştan Personality Type Scale was applied. SPSS 22.0 package program was used in the analysis of the data. In descriptive statistics; number and percentage were presented for categorical data; average and standard deviation were presented for numerical data. The convenience of numerical variables to the normal distribution was evaluated by Histogram graph. Student t test, one-way ANOVA, chi square and Tukey tests were used as hypothesis tests. Statistically, the significance limit was accepted as p <0.05. Findings: 144 (%31,6) were female and 84 (%18,4) were male of study group. 134 (%29,4) were female and 94 (%20,6) were male of control group. There was no significant difference between study group and control group in terms of gender (p=0,337). When we examined our groups in terms of educational status, we found that 18 (3.9%) members of the group that was diagnosed with depression were primary school graduate, 26 (5.7%) were secondary school graduate, 108 (23.7%) were high school graduate, 76 (16,7%) were university graduate; and 16 (3,5%) members of control group were primary school graduate, 30 (6,6%) were secondary school graduate, 107 (23,5%) were high school graduate, 75 (16,4%) were university graduate. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of educational status. The average age of people diagnosed with depression who participated in our study was 35.5 ± 10.4 while the average age of the control group was 39.1 ± 10.2. There was a significant difference between the study group and the control group in terms of age (p <0.05). Number four (tragi-romantic) personality type with 20% (n = 91) average was found the most frequent personality type in depressive patients. The most frequent personality type of the control group was the number two personality type with (8.1%) (n = 37) average. There was a significant difference between study and control groups in terms of personality type (p <0,05). Conclusion: When personality types of depression patients were examined, it was seen that number four personality type (traji romantic) was more frequent than healthy control group. This suggests that individuals with number four type should be closely monitored in the future for the possibility of developing depression. The results of our study need to be supported by more comprehensive and multi-centered studies. Key Words: Depression, personality type, enneagram, TKTO