Your Personality and Your Mood: Can Your Personality Make You Anxious, Manic, or Depressed?

Mood and anxiety disorders are major health problems. In fact, mood and anxiety disorders are among the most common, impairing, and expensive health problems facing Canadians today. An estimated 1 in 4 Canadians will experience a mood or anxiety disorder at some point in their life (Patten, 2008). Mood and anxiety disorders cost the Canadian economy more than $20 billion per year in treatment expenses, premature death, and lowered productivity (Harkness, 2010). The human suffering accompanying mood and anxiety disorders is even higher, with these disorders tied to unemployment, divorce, and suicide (Satyanarayana et al., 2009). Despite their common and their destructive nature, mood and anxiety disorders are often misunderstood and untreated. Increasing the general public's understanding of mood and anxiety disorders is therefore critical. Research consistently suggests an important role for personality traits in both the onset and the maintenance of mood and anxiety disorders (Bagby et al., 2008). Speakers in the proposed Cafe Scientifique will share current scientific information on three widely studied personality traits: namely, anxiety sensitivity, neuroticism, and perfectionism. Using a relaxed and an interactive style, speakers will discuss the association between anxiety sensitivity and anxiety (Stewart et al. 2008), neuroticism and bipolar disorder (Duffy et al., 2006), and perfectionism and depression (S. Sherry et al., 2008). The objectives of the proposed Cafe Scientifique are to raise awareness of and to foster dialogue on the definition, prevalence, and costs of mood and anxiety disorders; to discuss scientific research linking personality traits (i.e., anxiety sensitivity, neuroticism, and perfectionism) to mood and anxiety disorders; and to demystify and to destigmatize mood and anxiety disorders by engaging in a dialogue on these topics with members of the general public.