The current case-control study used a quasi-experimental design to explore the role that negative affectivity (as a trait) and the five domains of early maladaptive schemas have as personality variables related to depressive disorders. A secondary analysis of data was carried out in a case-control sample conformed by 238 psychiatric patients diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder and 236 individuals without this diagnosis. Patients showed significantly greater levels of negative affectivity as a trait for both anxiety and depression, along with significantly higher scores in the five domains of early maladaptive schemas compared to healthy individuals. A binary logistic regression analysis showed that a negative affectivity model explains 59% of the variance of depression, while a model of early maladaptive schema domains explains 48%. These findings favor the dimensional approach of the dsm-5 alternate classification model of personality disorders, as well as the possibility of reconsidering a depressive personality disorder diagnosis.