ETEROGENEITÀ DELLA DEPRESSIONE: ELEMENTI CLINICIE PROFILO DI PERSONALITÀHeterogeneity of Depression: Clinical Elements and Personality Profi le

Objective. In the clinical practice of Departments of Mental Health, the Authors often have the impression that patients with a diagnosis of major depression show psychopathological conditions characterized by heterogeneous symptoms. The aim of our research is to investigate some dimensions of personality which can be referred to the complex and heterogeneous depression disorder. In particular, they observed that these patients’ clinical frame is characterized by a signifi cant component of hostility and they show often heterodirected aggressive drives. Methods. The sample of our research consisted of 32 in-patients admitted in the Psychiatric Service of Diagnosis and Care (Amedeo di Savoia Hospital in Turin) who were administered two psychological tests: the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and the Rorschach test. Moreover, for each patient the Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) was fi lled in. Results and conclusions. Data analyses revealed that in-patients had negative affective states, but they kept an active behaviour towards the environment as well. Such behaviour reveals a claiming attitude and it is linked to feelings of anger and frustration: the environment is perceived as hostile and responsible for a damage the patients is convinced to be victim of besides, the Authors read this perception as a consequence of the changes in contemporary society, that is permeated by a sense of shakiness and lack of self-confi dence. The paranoid declination of these patients’ mental life is interpreted by the Authors as a defence that fulfi lls the need of not coming in touch with their own personal involvement in their own lives.