Affective temperaments and residual symptoms in patients with mood and anxiety disorders

Objective. Temperament conventionally refers to stable behavioural and emotional reactions that appear early in life and are influenced in part by genetic constitution. Few studies compared temperamental traits in anxiety and mood disorders even though some authors suggested a clinical and neurobiological continuum between them. The aim of the study was to compare temperamental traits and psychopathological dimensions in subjects with DSM-IV diagnoses of mood and anxiety disorders. Methods. A total of 101 clinically stabilized consecutive outpatients (45 subjects with anxiety disorders and 56 with mood disorders diagnoses) were evaluated. The brief version of Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego (briefTEMPS-M) and Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) were used to assess temperamental traits and psychopathological dimensions, respectively. Results. No significant differences between anxiety disorders and mood disorders subjects for TEMPS-M or SCL-90 mean scores were observed. Different TEMPS-M scores differentially affect residual clinical symptoms. Conclusions. Our data represent an indirect indicator of possible common diathesis between the two different disorders. The temperament "paradigm" could explain part of the residual symptomatology. The evaluation of affective temperaments seems to add considerable clinical information to psychopathological and diagnostic descriptions.