Changes in personality traits during treatment with sertraline or Citalopram

Abstract

BackgroundRecent studies indicate that selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) reduce the symptoms accompanying personality disorders and modulate a normal personality.AimsTo examine the effect of two SSRIs, sertraline and Citalopram, on personality traits in major depressed patients.MethodPersonality traits were evaluated at baseline and after six months using the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP).ResultsAfter treatment, significant changes in the direction of normalisation were seen in all scales. To determine whether the observed changes could be explained by improved depressive symptoms, multiple stepwise regressions with the separate KSP as dependent variables were performed. Improvements in depressive symptoms only accounted for 0–8.4% of the observed variance.ConclusionsIn depressed patients treated with SSRIs significant effects are seen on personality traits measured by the KSP.