Okay, welcome back to the podcast.

I am joined today with Dr. Jonathan Shedler to talk about depressive personality style. He has been on the podcast before

talking about narcissism, obsessive compulsive personality, beginning treatment, psychodynamics,

psychotherapy. We have no conflicts of interest to report for this episode. We will be doing a lot

of roleplay trying to give a practical understanding of depressive personality dynamics,

how it shows up in therapy,

and how to start to help the person get in touch

with their own needs, desires, and frustration.

Individuals with depressive personality style

are often professionally and socially, externally successful

with a warm, engaging, empathic presence,

and invested in making other people's lives happy.

Due to the adaptive childhood dynamics that they faced, how they adaptively responded

to hardships, these people developed an accommodating nature and get stuck in relationships, even

therapeutic ones, where their own needs, desires, and anger remain neglected,

disavowed, and largely unconscious. Depressive personalities are distinct from

clinical depression. Someone can have a depressive personality without

necessarily experiencing clinical depressive episodes. Paradoxically,

individuals with a personality style often appear outwardly successful and

high functioning despite inner feelings of inadequacy and chronic dissatisfaction.

They typically struggle to experience genuine pleasure or joy.

Within psychodynamic circles, the concept of depressive personality remains influential,

...