PERSONALITY AND BENZODIAZEPINE SENSITIVITY IN ANXIOUS PATIENTS AND CONTROL SUBJECTS

Cloninger has recently proposed a model of personality variability tha t is based on three independent heritable traits of harm avoidance, no velty seeking, and reward dependence, each of which is thought to be m ediated by a separate neurochemical and neuroanatomic mechanism. The c urrent study tested hypotheses generated on the basis of this theory i n anxious patients and control subjects. Eighteen patients with panic disorder, 12 patients with generalized anxiety disorder, and 21 contro l subjects underwent both personality testing and assessment of their sensitivity to diazepam, as measured by slowing of saccadic eye moveme nt velocity. As expected, anxious patients displayed higher harm avoid ance scores than controls. Although an inverse correlation between har m avoidance and benzodiazepine sensitivity was predicted, no relations hip between these variables was found in any diagnostic group. However , a significant correlation was found between novelty-seeking scores a nd sensitivity to diazepam. This finding, although not predicted by Cl oninger's theory, is consistent with prior preclinical and human studi es.