Personality and anxiety disorders: examination of revised reinforcement sensitivity theory in clinical generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder

background Personality has been implicated in the development and continuation of mental disorders. One major advance in the personality field came with the reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST). The study of personality can help explicate the pathology of anxiety disorders. To this end, the present study compared the profile of the revised reinforcement sensitivity theory (r-RST) of personality in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), and panic disorder (PD).