Chronic mood disorder and depressive personality.

This article considers the relationship between chronic mood disorders and depressive personality from several perspectives. A historical overview of various theoretical, descriptive, and empirically based typologies is provided as well as a review of the relevant classifications from the psychiatric nomenclatures. The defining features of the different conceptions of chronic depression and depressive personality then are considered within the framework of dimensional models of personality, including the dimensions of positive and negative affectivity, and the five-factor model. It is proposed that these dimensional models may provide a useful integrating framework for future work in this area.