State and personality in depressed and panic patients.

The authors examined 36 patients with panic disorder, 66 patients with major depression, and 124 control subjects to determine personality differences between them in the ill and the recovered states. The panic and depressed groups did not differ from each other in either state. Both recovered groups had less emotional strength and greater interpersonal dependency than the control subjects. The effect of state on personality measures appears to be similar for anxious and depressed patients. No personality measures that clearly differentiated the recovered panic and depressed patients were found.