Past Issues

Objective: The main purpose of this study was to investigate personality functions and narrative characteristics among females with depression. Method: Fifty-three depressed female outpatients were included in this study. The projective “Thematic Apperception Test” was used and dynamic and narrative analyses were applied for interpretation. Result: Among patients’ personality functions, the highest mean score was for “reality testing,” while “adaptive regression in the service of the ego” was the lowest. On average, “stable” narrative plots predominated while the characteristic of “agency” was less prominent in their stories. Furthermore, narrative characteristics were significantly correlated with certain personality functions. Conclusion: This study showed that depressed female outpatients generally lacked a sense of their own competence; they therefore need to be “empowered” in the course of therapy. This study suggests that the impact of social and cultural factors on women’s depressive disorders and that comparison with depressive males merits further investigation. (Full text in Chinese)