PATIENTS AND INFORMANTS REPORTS OF PERSONALITY-TRAITS DURING AND AFTER MAJOR DEPRESSION

The influence of major depression on patients' and informants' reports of personality traits was examined using the Structured Interview for DSM-III Personality Disorder, both before and after successful antide pressant or placebo treatment (N = 58). According to patients' reports , Cluster A and C traits decreased significantly from pre- to posttrea tment, but Cluster B traits were unchanged, excluding an increase in h istrionic traits. According to informants' reports, Cluster A and B tr aits did not change from pre- to posttreatment, but Cluster C traits d ecreased significantly after treatment, not including passive-aggressi ve traits. Moreover, informants generally reported much higher levels of maladaptive personality traits than patients themselves. These resu lts suggest that informants should be used in future research on perso nality disorders until better assessment techniques are developed.