Recognizing the personality and its disorders differentiates it fundamentally from other branches of medicine. By recognizing the personality of people, we can gain adequate knowledge on behavior and relationships among the people. Enhancing the quality of life of psychiatric patients largely depends on positive developments in their personality.Considering the inaccessibility of psychotherapy and its costs, Drug therapy is always considered clinically in treating patients. The objective of this research was to evaluate the relationship between the use of medicine and personality factors, which could be helpful in the use of more effective drugs in the treatment of personality disorders. Hence, this research was conducted to evaluate the effect of citalopram, as a widely used drug for treating depression on personality factors. This is a randomized clinical trial study conducted since September 2015 to September 2016 on 30 patients with major depression who referred to Shahid Sadoughi University Clinics in Yazd. First, major depression was clinically examined and diagnosed by physician based on DSM4 diagnostic criteria. Then, they received Beck Inventory and 125 TCI test. Then, they were treated with citalopram. After that, they were followed-up in clinic after 6 weeks of treatment. After being interviewed and examined by a psychiatrist, the patients re-received the TCI and Beck tests. Finally, the results of each subject were submitted to the statistics consultant to analyze the data. Based on Paired Sample Test and p-value test, there is a significant difference between the mean scores of Beck test before and after treatment and citalopram. In addition, the difference between the mean scores of factors of novelty-seeking, harm avoidance, reward dependence, self-directedness, cooperativeness, and self-transcendence before and after treatment and citalopram is significant. Based on this study, treatment of depression with citalopram causes changes in personality factors. The results of this research can be helpful in treatment of patients with personality disorders. However, further investigations are required to examine the effects of other psychotropic drugs on the treatment of personality disorders, such as antipsychotics and other antidepressants.
