Esperienze depressive e strutture di personalità

[Autom. eng. transl.] Introduction: The present contribution aims to deepen the knowledge of depressive disorders starting from the finding that a syndrome, to be properly understood, must be considered within the personality structure that hosts it (Westen et al., 2005; Westen , Shedler, 2000). It is inspired by the model of depressive experiences developed by Sidney Blatt (1974, 2004, 2008), which tends to underline the "structural" root of anaclitic and introjective depression, motivating the study of associated personalities and validating the consideration of depressive sentiment as a normal characteristic, as well as a pathology of human experience (Blatt, Zuroff, 1992). Method: In order to explore the association between depressive symptomatological severity, personality characteristics - anaclitic and introjective - and personality styles and / or disorders in a sample of 51 adult subjects diagnosed with depressive disorder, the following tools were used : Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS, Hamilton, 1960), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II, Beck et al., 1996), Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (Blatt et al., 1976), Clinical Diagnostic Interview (CDI, Westen , 2002), Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure (SWAP-200, Westen et al., 2003). Results: The results obtained allowed to highlight: specific correlation patterns between anaclitic and introjective style and measures related to the severity of depressive symptomatology; precise associations between different personological profiles and anaclitic and introjective typology; different styles and personality disorders in males and females. Conclusions: The expansion of knowledge related to personality in the two types of depression can be of particular interest from the nosographic, but above all therapeutic, point of view, favoring treatment planning and relapse prevention.