Depressive personality also appears to have a pathoplastic effect on the course of depressive disorders, predicting poorer outcomes and response to treatment (Laptook et al. 2006, Ryder et al. 2010). Moreover, Rudolph & Klein (2009) recently reported preliminary support for the consequences model, at least in youth. They found that in a sample of early adolescents, higher levels of depressive symptoms predicted an increase in depressive personality traits 12 months later. Finally, the limited evidence available suggests that semi-structured interview assessments of depressive personality traits are not influenced by a depressive episode (Klein 1990), arguing against the concomitants model.
