Personality traits in relation to anxiety and depressive symptoms in people who have undergone short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy in daycare conditions

Abstract Objective The aim of the study was the prospective assessment of changes in depressive symptoms in relation to neuroticism and extraversion in a sample of patients with anxiety and personality disorders who underwent short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP). Method 139 people were recruited; 110 of them participated in follow-up measurements. Depressive symptoms (DS) were evaluated with the Symptoms Check List – Revised (SCL-90-R) and Present State Examination (PSE) as a part of Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN 2.0). Personality profiles (neuroticism and extraversion) were assessed with the Polish version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). Measurements were performed in the following sequence: (1) prior to the treatment, (2) after 12 weeks of therapy, (3) 6 months after being discharged from the ward, and (4) 12 months after being discharged from the ward. Results Depressive (DS) and anxiety symptoms (AS) decreased at the subsequent 150 measurement points. DS measured by SCL-90-R related to EPQ traits of neuroticism and minimally to extraversion at the beginning of STPP. AS was also related to neuroticism and moderately to the psychoticism level. Somatization symptoms were not related to any of the EPQ traits. Conclusions 1. DS and AS, both in clinician-researcher and self-assessment, decreased during follow-up. 2. DS were interrelated to neuroticism and anxiety to psychoticism, which may hint at partly different connections between depression, anxiety and personality traits. 3. The intensity of somatization symptoms was not related to personality traits, indicating that somatization constitutes a separate psychopathological dimension, coexisting with anxiety and depression.