Emotional maturity, personality profile, and quality of life in treatment-naïve patients with depression and obsessive–compulsive disorder: A comparative study

ABSTRACT Background: Emotional maturity and personality traits influence how individuals perceive and respond to stress and navigate interpersonal relationships, and they are central to depression and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Aim: To assess and compare emotional maturity, personality profile, and quality of life (QoL) in treatment-naïve patients with depression and OCD. Methods: This cross-sectional, comparative study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital between January 2022 and June 2023. A total of 100 participants were selected using consecutive sampling technique (50 with depression and 50 with OCD). Emotional maturity was assessed using the Bhargav and Singh Emotional Maturity Scale, personality traits via the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised-Abbreviated, and QoL using the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey. Symptom severity was measured using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the Yale-Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale. Results: Patients with depression had significantly higher emotional regression ( P = 0.003) and social maladjustment ( P = 0.03) compared to patients with OCD. Psychoticism ( P = 0.03) was significantly higher in patients with depression, whereas patients with OCD had significantly higher extraversion ( P = 0.001) and lie scale score ( P = 0.02). Patients with OCD had significantly poor QoL in functional state ( P < 0.001) and emotional well-being ( P < 0.001), whereas patients with depression had significantly higher scores in general heath ( P < 0.001) QoL. Conclusion: Patients with depression have emotional regressive behavior and social maladjustment when compared to OCD. Depressive patients are more reserved, quiet, introspective, empathetic, tender-minded, likely to have socially desirable behavior personality traits compared to OCD. Patients with depression and OCD had impairment in most of the domains such as physical functioning, emotional problems, and role limitation. Early identification and management may be associated with improved QoL in these patients.