THE TRIDIMENSIONAL PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRE (TPQ) AND DEPRESSION

The relationships between the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) and depression were examined in a sample of 53 major depressive patients and 33 healthy controls. Depressed patients exhibit higher h arm avoidance scores as well as lower novelty seeking sub-scale explor atory excitability (NS1) scores as compared to healthy controls. Howev er, the other dimensions and their sub-scales do not differ between de pressive patients and controls. In the depressive group, the harm avoi dance dimension is related to the severity of depression as assessed b y the Hamilton scale. This study confirms the state dependence of the harm avoidance dimension and suggests a relationship between the novel ty seeking sub-scale NS1 and depression. (C) 1998, Elsevier, Paris.