[Premorbid personality of monopolar and bipolar depressives. A comparison based on personality inventories (author's transl)]

Abstract

Premorbid personalities are studied in 65 monopolar endogennous depressives (ICD-Nos. 296.0, 296.2) and in 45 bipolar depressives (ICD-No. 296.3) by a retrospective self-rating evaluation after recovery. The instruments used are two questionnaires of v. Zerssen, especially constructed for that purpose, along with the AUPI questionnaire, which is based on Eysenck's system of personality description. The two groups are compared according to each test scale. Significant differences result in two of the scales. Monopolar depressives score higher than bipolars in the scale representing Tellenbach's "melancholic type". This can be described with terms such as orderly, strenous, and conscientious. Bipolars show more extroversion than monopolars. None of the patients' groups can be distinguished fr-m the normal population in any of the AUPI scales (extroversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism).