Defense styles and personality dimensions of research subjects with anxiety and depressive disorders

We used the Bond Defense Style and Cloninger Tridimensional Personality que stionnaires to assess defense styles and personality dimensions in subjects with anxiety and depressive disorders. When measured against a comparison group, maladaptive defense style scores were significantly higher in those with major depression, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and so cial phobia, and higher at a trend level in the subjects with obsessive-com pulsive disorder and mixed anxiety and depression. However, there were no d ifferences in adaptive defense style scores between the subjects and the co mparison group. The harm avoidance personality dimension scores were signif icantly higher in subjects with both anxiety and depressive disorders than in the comparison group. The harm avoidance scores correlated positively wi th the maladaptive defense scores, but negatively with the adaptive defense scores. These findings are discussed in terms of severity of illness, leve l of functioning; and relationships between Axis I and II disorders.