Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Using the Threat Probability Task to Assess Anxiety and Fear During Uncertain and Certain Threat
Published on: September 12, 2014
Effect of pharmacological treatment on temperament and character in panic disorder
Carlo Marchesi1, Chiara De Panfilis, Alessandro Cantoni
1Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatric Section, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. carlo.marchesi@unipr.it
Abstract:
Temperament and character were evaluated in patients with panic disorder (PD) before and after 1 year of pharmacological therapy to verify whether personality characteristics change after treatment. Therefore, 65 PD patients and 71 healthy subjects participated in the study. All subjects were evaluated with the SCID-IV, the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), the SCL-90, the Ham-A and the Ham-D. Patients were treated with paroxetine or citalopram. The TCI was re-administered to the patients at the end of the study. At the end of the study, complete remission was achieved by 31 patients (R), whereas symptoms did not disappear in the remaining 34 patients (NR). Before treatment, NR patients showed higher levels of harm avoidance (HA) and lower levels of persistence (P), self-directedness (SD) and cooperativeness (C) than healthy controls. Only HA levels were higher than normal in R, although they were significantly lower in R than in NR patients. These differences persisted after treatment. However, in NR patients the levels of SD and C worsened, whereas the difference between R patients and controls in HA levels (higher in R patients than in controls) disappeared after controlling the effect of residual phobic anxiety (higher than normal in R patients). Our data suggest that the high levels of HA found after remission may depend on the subsyndromal residual phobic symptoms, observed in R patients. Moreover, the persistence of anxious symptoms may have worsened the low levels of SD and C observed before treatment in patients who did not achieve remission.
Related Concept Videos
Panic Disorder
Behavior Therapy
Exposure therapy is a cornerstone of behavioral treatment for anxiety disorders. It involves systematic exposure to feared stimuli, either in real...
Drug Therapy
Antianxiety Medications
Psychosis: Goals of Pharmacotherapy
Anxiolytic Drugs: Overview
Primary Types of Anxiolytic Drugs
1. Benzodiazepines:
Benzodiazepines bind to the GABA-A receptor in the brain, enhancing GABA's interaction. This action reduces neurotransmission, effectively blocking anxiety-associated limbic circuitry.
Personality Theory by Eysenck and Eysenck
In the extroversion/introversion dimension, highly extroverted people are sociable, outgoing, and easily connect with others. In contrast,...