DEPRESSIVE PERSONALITY-DISORDER - CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Although the concept of a depressive personality has a long and rich t radition in psychiatry, it has only recently been included in any offi cial nomenclature. Those afflicted with depressive personality have be en subsumed under a variety of mood disorders and other personality di sorders. This article presents criteria for depressive personality dis order that were developed for the DSM-IV Task Force. A framework for v alidating a personality disorder, including that of depressive persona lity disorder, is presented. Results of the DSM-IV Mood Disorders Fiel d Trial relevant to this issue are reported in the article. Results sh ow that DSM-IV depressive personality disorder identifies a group of p atients whose diagnosis does not overlap substantially with major depr ession, dysthymia, or early-onset dysthymia; the patients have signifi cant social and occupational morbidity. These results provide signific ant evidence to justify the validity of depressive personality disorde r.