Effect of Temperament and Character on Pharmacotherapy in Panic Disorder Patients / 대한정신약물학회지

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Temperament and character that represent personality trait are supposed to relate to panic disorder (PD). There are several studies that report a significant relationship among temperament, character and treatment outcome in PD. In this study, we examined whether temperament and character affect the long term outcome of escitalopram treatment in patients with PD. METHODS: Ninety-two patients with PD were recruited at the psychiatric outpatient clinics of 6 university hospitals in South Korea. All patients were treated with escitalopram for 6 months. The Temperament-Character Inventory-Revised-Short (TCI-RS) was administered to all patients at baseline. They were also assessed with the Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS), Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety (HAM-A), 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD-17), and Clinical Global Impression on-Severity (CGI-S) at both baseline and after 6 months of pharmacotherapy. RESULTS: There was a significant relationship between reward dependence (RD) and a remission rate in PD patients who were treated with escitalopram, and panic patients who had high RD showed a low remission rate after the treatment. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that high RD predicts a poor treatment response in patients with PD.