Depressive personality disorder, dysthymia, and their relationship to perfectionism

Abstract

This paper reports the results of two studies in a nonclinical (n=105) and primary care outpatient sample (n=110), in which Depressive Personality Disorder (DPD), Dysthymia, and depression were assessed for their distinctive relationship with perfectionism. Results from both studies found that self-reported DPD, Dysthymia, and depressive symptoms were all intercorrelated, and that DPD, Dysthymia, and depressive symptoms were correlated with three dimensions of perfectionism-Concern over Mistakes, Doubts about Actions, and Parental Criticism. In the nonclinical sample, variance in measures of DPD was predicted by measures of perfectionism after controlling for depression and Dysthymia symptoms. A similar pattern of findings was observed in the primary care sample. This relationship with perfectionism did not occur when Dysthymia or depressive symptoms were predicted. Nevertheless, much of the variance in measures of DPD, Dysthymia, and depressive symptoms is associated with each other and not perfectionism. It is concluded that a common factor or set of factors underlies these disorders, but that DPD may be more strongly related to perfectionism than Dysthymia and depression. As a common factor(s) is identified, measures of DPD and Dysthymia may be refined, thereby increasing the discriminant validity of their measures.

What Should Become of Depressive Personality Disorder in DSM-V?

“…As noted above, perfectionism, self-criticism, angry hostility, harm avoidance, extraversion, and positive emotions seem to be more strongly associated with DPD than dysthymia-which may serve as one means by which the two constructs may be better differentiated. 31,71,74,82 Additionally, as a means of supporting DPD's construct validity, one could evaluate how its course and long-term impairment differ from those dysthymia and other illnesses. One study has already begun this process.…”

The Depressive Personality Disorder Inventory and Current Depressive Symptoms: Implications for the Assessment of Depressive Personality

“…Construct, convergent, and discriminant validity coefficients for the original DPDI (Huprich, 2004;Huprich, 2003;Huprich & Keaschuk, 2004;Huprich et al, 2005Huprich et al, , 2008 were compared to the coefficients from the correlations with the revised DPDI (see Table 1). Across all studies, the DPDI was very highly correlated with the revised DPDI (rs > .95).…”

The impact of perfectionism and anxiety traits on action monitoring in major depressive disorder

“…With regard to the symptomatology, a substantial body of evidence has been published demonstrating a positive association between severity of depressive symptoms and levels of perfectionism as well as anxiety features (Enns and Cox 1999; Huprich et al 2008; Coryell et al 1992; Parker et al 1999; Clark and Watson 1991). Also, evidence from neuroendocrine, neuroanatomic, molecular and genetic studies has been published demonstrating common neurobiological factors for affective personality styles and major depression, pointing to a link between the pathophysiology of those personality traits and the pathophysiology of MDD (Foster and MacQueen 2008).…”