The final two models also assume that there is a causal relation between personality and depression. However, these models reverse the direction of causality. In the concomitants (or state-dependent) model, assessments of personality are colored, or distorted, by the individual’s mood state. This model implies that personality returns to its baseline form after recovery from the episode. In contrast, the consequences (or scar) model holds that depressive episodes have an enduring effect on personality, such that changes in personality persist after recovery. These models would be supported by evidence that depression alters levels of personality traits, either concurrently (concomitants model) or over the longer-term (consequences model).
