Washington, Feb.15 : Depression and anger is associated with the personality type of men and women and it has been found that clinically depressed women see themselves as more anxious, self-conscious and vulnerable while clinically depressed men are more hostile about a perceived loss.

According to a study done by researchers at the University of Toronto and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), published in the "Personality and Individual Differences", there are two general measures of personality traits exhibited by people with depression: sociotropy and autonomy.

Researchers put 320 clinically depressed patients (118 men, 202 women) through psychological tests to find out if there were any personality differences between male and female patients among sociotropic and autonomous participants.

Sociotropic, mostly women, were sensitive about maintaining close relationships and could go into depression after an interpersonal failure or loss, while autonomous individuals, mostly men, were excessively concerned about their feel of self-worth, based on achievement and control, so losing a job could throw them into depression, said Univ. of Toronto psychiatry professor Michael Bagby, clinical research director at CAMH and co-author of the study.

Bagby and his co-authors found that a highly sociotropic man going through the break up of a relationship was more likely to become angry. A woman, on the other hand, might be depressed and feel vulnerable about the loss.

The researchers also found that there were no personality differences between men and women who exhibited autonomous traits and they reacted the same way regarding the loss.

The important finding of the research was that personality traits needed to be considered when treating patients with depression.

"You should focus on women's feelings of self-consciousness and vulnerability whereas with men, you should focus on their sense of being angry or hostile about a perceived loss," said Bagby. (ANI)