THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIOTROPY AUTONOMY AND PATTERNS OF SYMPTOMATOLOGY IN THE DEPRESSED ELDERLY/

This study examined the relationship between the personality construct s of sociotropy and autonomy and clinical symptoms of depression among 80 elderly people reporting to a range of psychiatric services for th e treatment of depression. These investigations provided support for t he association of sociotropy to hypothesized pattern of clinical sympt omatology, but no support for the relationship of autonomy to its hypo thesized pattern of symptoms. Future investigations on elderly depress ive people needs to accommodate the clinical patterns more typical of this population. Research on the relationship between depression and p ersonality would benefit from empirically derived symptom profiles. It may also need to take into account the influence of personality on ch anges in symptoms over and between episodes of depression.