Terezie Sedlinská1, Christiane Mühle1, Tanja Richter-Schmidinger1, Christian Weinland1, Johannes Kornhuber1, Bernd Lenz2. 1. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Germany. 2. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Germany; Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH), Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Germany. Electronic address: bernd.lenz@zi-mannheim.de.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Male depression syndrome (Male-DS) refers to alternative depression symptoms related to the male sex, such as externalizing behaviors, emotional suppression, substance misuse, and risk-seeking. Although these symptoms contribute to gender bias in the diagnosis of depression, Male-DS can be found in both sexes. In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed associations between Male-DS and clinical personality accentuations. METHODS: We compared clinical personality accentuations between 78 depressed patients with high Male-DS scores (46% women; mean age ± standard error of the mean: 36.5 ± 1.6 years) and 76 depressed patients with low Male-DS scores (43% women; age 44.8 ± 1.7 years). We also explored differences between the two patient groups and 176 healthy controls (51% women; age 37.2 ± 1.0 years). RESULTS: Depressed patients with high Male-DS scores showed stronger borderline (partial η2 0.121), impulsive (0.112), and antisocial (0.078) personality accentuations than those with low Male-DS scores after Bonferroni adjustment and controlling for sex, depression severity, and age. Relative to healthy controls, patients with high Male-DS values scored higher in all personality dimensions except for the narcissistic dimension. Patients with low Male-DS values scored higher in all Cluster A and C dimensions and the impulsive and borderline dimensions, but their scores were lower in the narcissistic dimension. LIMITATIONS: Cross-sectional design and focus on in-patients. CONCLUSIONS: We found pronounced Cluster B personality in patients with high Male-DS scores versus patients with low scores. Further prospective research is needed to verify that Cluster B personality traits represent a pre-morbid risk factor for Male-DS.
BACKGROUND:Male depression syndrome (Male-DS) refers to alternative depression symptoms related to the male sex, such as externalizing behaviors, emotional suppression, substance misuse, and risk-seeking. Although these symptoms contribute to gender bias in the diagnosis of depression, Male-DS can be found in both sexes. In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed associations between Male-DS and clinical personality accentuations. METHODS: We compared clinical personality accentuations between 78 depressedpatients with high Male-DS scores (46% women; mean age ± standard error of the mean: 36.5 ± 1.6 years) and 76 depressedpatients with low Male-DS scores (43% women; age 44.8 ± 1.7 years). We also explored differences between the two patient groups and 176 healthy controls (51% women; age 37.2 ± 1.0 years). RESULTS:Depressedpatients with high Male-DS scores showed stronger borderline (partial η2 0.121), impulsive (0.112), and antisocial (0.078) personality accentuations than those with low Male-DS scores after Bonferroni adjustment and controlling for sex, depression severity, and age. Relative to healthy controls, patients with high Male-DS values scored higher in all personality dimensions except for the narcissistic dimension. Patients with low Male-DS values scored higher in all Cluster A and C dimensions and the impulsive and borderline dimensions, but their scores were lower in the narcissistic dimension. LIMITATIONS: Cross-sectional design and focus on in-patients. CONCLUSIONS: We found pronounced Cluster B personality in patients with high Male-DS scores versus patients with low scores. Further prospective research is needed to verify that Cluster B personality traits represent a pre-morbid risk factor for Male-DS.
Authors: Claudia von Zimmermann; Lena Brückner; Christiane Mühle; Christian Weinland; Johannes Kornhuber; Bernd Lenz Journal: Front Psychiatry Date: 2022-07-19 Impact factor: 5.435