Personality disorder traits in generalized anxiety and panic disorder patients

Eight-four panic disorder (PD) and 29 generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) patients were compared with respect to abnormal personality traits assessed by a structured interview (Structured Interview for DSM-III Personality [SIDP]) and a self-report inventory (Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire [PDQ]). An earlier study using many of the same patients by Noyes et al. found PD patients to have more extensive axis I psychopathology than GAD patients. However, in this study it was the GAD patients who appeared to have greater axis II pathology. In particular, when using a subset of patients who had been matched for age and gender, the GAD patients reported more antisocial traits. This finding is particularly interesting, since the matched samples consisted primarily of women in their forties and fifties.