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Anxiety Disorders and Temperament—an Update Review

  • Anxiety Disorders (A Pelissolo, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

The review focused on associations between temperament dimensions and clinical features in different anxiety disorders, likewise in obsessive-compulsive disorder in clinical samples of adults. A literature search was conducted in the Medline and PsycINFO databases covering the years 2010–2016. A systematic review and grading of the level of evidence for an association between temperament dimension scores and clinical features in each disorder were performed.

Recent Findings

Twenty papers reporting 18 different studies were included. Five of the papers focused on panic disorder (PD), five on social anxiety disorder (SAD), three on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), one on generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), three on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and an additional three papers on several anxiety disorders.

Summary

The review consolidates the finding that trait anxiety, especially as assessed by Cloninger’s model or the five-factor model, is a phenomenon common to all anxiety disorders and OCD. More follow-up studies including large samples are needed to differentiate the dimensional profiles of trait anxiety in specific disorders.

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Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Tampere, PO Box 100, 33014, Tampere, FI, Finland

    Olli Kampman, Merja Viikki & Esa Leinonen

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Seinäjoki Hospital District, Seinäjoki, Finland

    Olli Kampman

  3. Tampere City Mental Health Center, Tampere, Finland

    Merja Viikki

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland

    Esa Leinonen

Authors
  1. Olli Kampman
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  2. Merja Viikki
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Correspondence to Olli Kampman.

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Olli Kampman, Merja Viikki, and Esa Leinonen declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Anxiety Disorders

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Kampman, O., Viikki, M. & Leinonen, E. Anxiety Disorders and Temperament—an Update Review. Curr Psychiatry Rep 19, 27 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-017-0779-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-017-0779-5

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