Personality and depression in older people

Diagnosis - particularly of mental-health problems - is not a completely objective process and can often be influenced by factors such as age, race and sex that are nothing to do with a patient's symptoms. A U.S. study of 318 older adults looked into the effects of people's personality on their diagnosis of depression. Previous studies have shown that neurotic, introverted people are more likely to suffer from depression. The researchers tested the participants' personality and measured their depressive symptoms. They found that, regardless of their actual symptoms neurotic and introverted people were more likely to be diagnosed as depressed whereas those people who were highly conscientious were less likely to be labelled as depressed

McCray, Laura W. ... [et al] - The role of patient personality in the identification of depression in older primary care patients International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry November 2007, 22(11), 1095-1100