Abstract

• Objectives
  This study was performed to examine personailty characteristics in patients with panic disorder and to assess the links between personailty characteristics and duration, frequency, and severity of panic symptoms.
• Methods
  Thirty-six patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for panic disorder(patient group) and thirty-six normal controls were assessed by the PDQ-R and EPQ.
• Results
  1) Panic parients were more likley to show avoidant(p<0.05), obsessive-compulsive(p<0.01), histrionic(p<0.01), borderline(p<0.001) and paranoid(p<0.05) personality scales than controls. The scores of total PDQ-R(p<0.01), cluster B(p<0.001) and cluster C(p<0.01) personality disorder and traits in panic patients were significantly higher than controls.
  2) Panic patients showed significantly higher scores than controls on the EPQ factors of N(p<0.01) and significantly lower scores than controls on the EPQ factors of E(p<0.05).
  3) The frequency of panic attack and severity of panic symptoms in panic patients were sinificantly correlated with cluster A personality disorder(p<0.05) and schizotypal personaity disorder(p<0.01), respectively.
• Conclusion
  The above results revealed that panic patients were more avoidant, obsessive-compulsive, histrionic, borderline, and paranoid than controls. The author also noted that panic patients were more introverted and neurotic than controls. Some clinical features of panic support the previous findings that where was a possible kink between panic disorder and personality disorder.
• Keywords: Panic disorder; Personlaity; PDQ-R; EPQ