The association of childhood trauma and personality disorder with adult chronic depression. A cross-sectional study in depressed outpatients

Klein, Jan Philipp; Roniger, Antje; Schweiger, Ulrich; Späth, Christina; Brodbeck, Jeannette (2015). The association of childhood trauma and personality disorder with adult chronic depression. A cross-sectional study in depressed outpatients. Journal of clinical psychiatry, 76(6), e794-e801. Physicians Postgraduate Press 10.4088/JCP.14m09158

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Objective: Chronic depression has often been associated with childhood trauma. There may, however, be an interaction between personality pathology, childhood trauma, and chronic depression. This interaction has not yet been studied.

Method: This retrospective analysis is based on 279 patients contacted for a randomized trial in an outpatient psychotherapy center over a period of 18 months from 2010 to 2012. Current diagnoses of a personality disorder and presence of chronic depression were systematically assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. Retrospective reports of childhood trauma were collected using the short form of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-SF). DSM-IV–defined chronic depression was the primary outcome. The association between chronic depression, childhood trauma, and personality disorders was analyzed using correlations. Variables that had at least a small effect on correlation analysis were entered into a series of logistic regression analyses to determine the predictors of chronic depression and the moderating effect of childhood trauma.

Results: The presence of avoidant personality disorder, but no CTQ-SF scale, was associated with the chronicity of depression (odds ratio [OR] = 2.20, P = .015). The emotional abuse subscale of the CTQ-SF did, however, correlate with avoidant personality disorder (OR = 1.15, P = .000). The level of emotional abuse had a moderating effect on the effect of avoidant personality disorder on the presence of chronic depression (OR = 1.08, P = .004). Patients who did not suffer from avoidant personality disorder had a decreased rate of chronic depression if they retrospectively reported more severe levels of emotional abuse (18.9% vs 39.7%, respectively).

Conclusions: The presence of avoidant personality pathology may interact with the effect of childhood trauma in the development of chronic depression. This has to be confirmed in a prospective study.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology > Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy
07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology

UniBE Contributor:

Brodbeck, Jeannette

Subjects:

100 Philosophy > 150 Psychology
600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

0160-6689

Publisher:

Physicians Postgraduate Press

Language:

English

Submitter:

Adriana Biaggi

Date Deposited:

22 Apr 2015 15:09

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:45

Publisher DOI:

10.4088/JCP.14m09158

PubMed ID:

26132688

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.66831

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/66831

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