Anxiety Disorders and Temperament—an Update Review

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.