Depression and type D personality among undergraduate medical students

CONTEXT: Academic pressure, though established, is an unavoidable cause of depression in medical students. Role of Type D personality as determinant of depression is a new approach to the problem. AIM: Determination of relationship between Type D personality and Depression among medical students. SETTING AND DESIGN: Undergraduate students (both male and female, total 150) of Midnapore Medical College. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Beck Depression Inventory for depression and DS 14 for type D personality. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The scores were expressed as mean + SD. The significance of difference between the scores was done by Fisher's 2 sample t test. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Prevalence rate of depression was 45.3%, which was mostly of mild type (34%). Type D personality was present in 70% cases of which 15.3% had only negative affectivity, 23.3% had only social inhibition and 31% had both the components. Both depression & Type D personality were present in 36% cases. Negative affectivity component was significantly associated with depression which could be therapeutically controlled.