Avoidant personality traits distinguish social phobic and panic disorder subjects.
The purpose of this study was to show that, as a group, patients with social phobia and panic disorder differ with respect to personality traits, further validating the distinction between these anxiety disorders. To show this, we compared the response of 46 subjects with social phobia with the response of 72 subjects with panic disorder with or without agoraphobia on the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire. The subjects, who were recruited for treatment studies, completed this personality questionnaire after they had been off psychotropic medication for at least 1 week. Responses to the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire showed that the social phobics had more severe personality pathology. These subjects had higher anxious and schizoid cluster scores and differed from panic subjects in having more avoidant personality traits. Panic subjects had more dependent traits. The results indicate that social phobic and panic disorder patients are distinguishable on the basis of personality characteristics. They also show that the generalized situational subtype of social phobia is closely associated with avoidant personality disorder and that these may be differing categorizations of a single disturbance.
Noyes
R
R
Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City 52242.
Woodman
C L
CL
Holt
C S
CS
Reich
J H
JH
Zimmerman
M B
MB
D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000379:Agoraphobia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012923:Social Class