Personality and anxiety disorders: examination of revised reinforcement sensitivity theory in clinical generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder

BACKGROUND Personality has been implicated in the development and continuation of mental disorders. One major advance in the personality field came with the reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST). The study of personality can help explicate the pathology of anxiety disorders. To this end, the present study compared the profile of the revised reinforcement sensitivity theory (r-RST) of personality in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), and panic disorder (PD). PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE Seventy-eight GAD patients, 76 SAD patients. 72 PD patients, and 85 healthy individuals participated in the present study. All participants were assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I disorders (SCID-I), Beck Depression Inventory, Jackson-5 Questionnaire, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire. Panic and Agoraphobia Scale, and Social Phobia Inventory. Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Research Deputy of Kashan University of Medical Sciences. Participants were given information about the study and provided informed consent in writing. RESULTS Data were analyzed by chi-square, independent t-test, analysis of variance. and multivariate analysis of variance. All patients were higher on Flight than the control group. Also, all patients and healthy controls differed in the revised reinforcement sensitivity theory. CONCLUSIONS The more nuanced knowledge from the revised reinforcement sensitivity theory may be helpful in the diagnosis, etiology. and psychotherapy of anxiety disorders.