La plupart des recherches sur la personnalité des personnes déprimées ont été conduites dans le cadre du modèle de personnalité en cinq grands facteurs ou domaines et ont constaté un profil caractérisé par un Névrosisme élevé associé à un faible niveau d’Extraversion et de Conscienciosité. Moins nombreuses, les études effectuées au niveau plus fin des facettes des cinq grands domaines suggèrent l’existence de différences concernant des facettes de chacun des cinq grands domaines, y compris l’Ouverture à l’expérience et l’Agréabilité. L’objectif du présent travail était (1) d’étudier la personnalité des patients déprimés au niveau des facettes et (2) d’établir l’existence éventuelle de corrélations entre les scores à certaines facettes et l’intensité de la dépression.

Nous avons administré l’inventaire de dépression de Beck (BDI-II) et le questionnaire de personnalité NEO PI-R à 58 patients déprimés.

Nos résultats confirment le profil attendu au niveau des grands facteurs, mais suggèrent qu’au niveau plus fin des facettes, les cinq grands facteurs sont tous concernés : Névrosisme (N1 Anxiété, N2 Colère-hostilité, N3 Dépression, N4 Timidité sociale et N6 Vulnérabilité au stress), Extraversion (E1 Chaleur, E4 Activité, E6 Émotions positives), Ouverture (O4 Ouverture aux actions, O6 Ouverture aux valeurs), Agréabilité (A1 Confiance) et Conscienciosité (C1 Compétence, C5 Auto-discipline). Par ailleurs, six facettes sont corrélées avec l’intensité de la dépression, positivement (N2 Colère-hostilité, N3 Dépression, N4 Timidité sociale, N6 Vulnérabilité au stress) ou négativement (C1 Compétence, C5 Auto-discipline).

En raison de la méthode transversale de notre étude, nous ne pouvons affirmer le caractère prémorbide du profil qui pourrait également être dû à des biais d’auto-perception et de mémoire affectant l’évaluation de la personnalité pendant l’état dépressif. Cependant, la recherche antérieure a montré que ces biais sont relativement modérés, ce qui plaide en faveur du caractère durable du profil et de sa relative indépendance relativement à l’état dépressif.

Quoi qu’il en soit, il est clair que l’épisode dépressif est associé à un profil spécifique de personnalité qui comprend au moins une facette de chacun des cinq grands facteurs de personnalité.

Recent research into the relationship between depression and personality has been dominated by the Big Five model of personality, according to which all personality traits are facets or combinations of five broad factors or domains: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. A meta-analysis by Kotov et al. (2010) showed that patients with depression scored higher than non-clinical samples on Neuroticism, and lower on Extraversion and Conscientiousness, with large differences according to Cohen's d-criteria. No significant differences were found on the Openness and Agreeableness scales. The authors emphasize that these conclusions apply only on the level of the Big Five broad factors, because not enough research has been published relating to specific facets of each factor. However, the few available studies have yielded convergent findings concerning the different facets: Depressive disorder was generally positively associated with Anxiety, Depression, Vulnerability, and Modesty, and negatively associated with Positive Emotions, Openness to actions, Trust, and Self-Discipline, suggesting that it may be linked to at least one facet of each factor. The aim of the present study was to examine whether a similar personality profile can be found in a clinical sample of French patients with major depressive episode, not only in relation to the Big Five factors, but also to the facets.

Our sample consisted of 58 individuals (35 women, 23 men), aged 18 to 58 years (M=41.8, SD=11.3), with a diagnosis of major depressive episode without psychotic features, who attended a psychological assessment in an outpatient department in the Paris area. The majority of participants were single. Fifteen participants reported alcohol and/or other substance dependency, and all were being prescribed antidepressant medication, with or without mood regulators. Depression severity was assessed using the 21-item Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), and personality traits via the NEO Personality Inventory revised (NEO PI-R). Mean scores of participants were compared with those of the validation sample and expressed as Cohen's ds. Relationships between personality traits and depression were evaluated using Pearson correlation coefficients. In order to control for the risk of type I error due to the number of tests, α was posited at .0016.

Patients scored much higher than the validation sample on Neuroticism and lower on Extraversion and Conscientiousness. Regarding the facets, as shown in Table 1, the patients scored significantly higher than the French validation sample on five out the six facets of Neuroticism: Anxiety, Angry Hostility, Depression, Self-Consciousness, and Vulnerability. They scored lower on three facets of Extraversion (Warmth, Activity, and Positive Emotions), two facets of Openness (Openness to Actions and Openness to Values), one facet of Agreeableness (Trust), and two facets of Conscientiousness (Competence and Self-Discipline). With respect to the “Big Five” domains, there was a high positive correlation between Neuroticism and severity of depression, whilst a medium negative correlation was found between Extraversion and Conscientiousness. For the facets, the BDI-II total score evidenced especially high correlations not only with NEO PI-R Depression but also with Vulnerability, and moderate to high correlations with Angry Hostility and Self-Consciousness. Correlations were negative, and moderate to high, between BDI-II total score and the Competence and Self-Discipline facets of Conscientiousness. After correcting for multiple comparisons, no correlations between BDI-II total score and any facet of Extraversion, Openness or Agreeableness remained significant.

Our findings confirmed the personality profile for depression suggested by Kotov et al. (2010) in their meta-analysis. Moreover, for the facets, we found significant differences between depressed participants and the French validation sample on at least one facet of every Big Five factor. These findings are largely comparable to the literature in this area, although differences on the facets of Openness and Agreeableness were not exactly those that were expected. The correlation analyses additionally suggested that, for the Big Five domains as well as for the facets, there is a continuous linear association between severity of depression and Neuroticism and Conscientiousness, but not Extraversion, Openness, or Agreeableness. These associations are mainly related to four facets of Neuroticism (Angry Hostility, Depression, Self-Consciousness, and Vulnerability) and two facets of Conscientiousness (Competence and Self-Discipline). As this study was cross-sectional, it does not enable conclusions as to whether this profile was present before the onset of the depressive episode or appeared afterwards. However, it is suggested, on the basis of the literature, that this profile could be premorbid and thereafter accentuated by the acute depression.

Whatever the answer to this question, we can assume that current depressive episode is strongly associated with a specific personality profile, including not only Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness, but also two facets of Openness to Experience (Openness to Actions and Openness to Values) and one facet of Agreeableness (Trust).