and Personality Disorders. Preliminary Reports
M. Gasperini and M. Provenza
Institute of Clinical Psychiatry, Milan Medical School, Ospedale S. Paolo, 20142 Milan, Italy
Previous investigations of the complex relationship between personality dis­orders and affective illness have been conceptualized in a number of ways (5,11 Д 3). Personality disorders have been viewed as predisposing factors to the affective disorders (13) and as determining influences on clinical pictures and the course of illness (18,22) or treatment responses in terms of more negative outcomes for certain personalities (3,12,26,27,30). They have also been seen as being longitudinally influenced by protracted depressive episodes (5,11,13). From still another viewpoint, however, specific personality features could be subclinical manifestations of depression (4,10,15,17,24). The objective of the present study was to determine the validity of the latter hypothesis by estimating affective disorder risks in the first- and second-degree relatives of patients with both bipolar and unipolar depressive disorders and of controls who had no history of affective episodes with and without personality disorders.

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