The tridimensional personality questionnaire as a predictor of response to nefazodone treatment of depression

Abstract

Personality traits have emerged as the strongest identified predictors of response to antidepressant treatment of major depressive disorder (Peselow et al., 1992; Joyce et al., 1994). 18 subjects in the midst of a major depressive episode were treated with nefazodone in an open trial. All subjects completed Cloninger's tridimensional personality questionnaire (TPQ) before beginning treatment. A multiple regression analysis was performed in an attempt to replicate Joyce et al.'s (1994) finding that temperament type, as assessed by the TPQ, is a strong predictor of antidepressant response. A model involving TPQ reward dependence and harm avoidance scores, and their interaction, was found to significantly predict the response to nefazodone (r2 = 0.47, P < 0.027). When response was defined as a 50% decrease in HAM-D score at last visit, high reward dependence score alone significantly separated responders from nonresponders (Fisher's exact P = 0.050, df = 1). These results raise the intriguing possibility that TPQ scores may have direct clinical applications.