Benefits of Distinguishing between Physical and Social-Verbal Aspects of Behavior: An Example of Generalized Anxiety

Abstract

Temperament traits and mental illness have been linked to varying degrees of imbalances in neurotransmitter systems of behavior regulation. If a temperament model has been carefully structured to reflect weak imbalances within systems of behavior regulation, then in the presence of mental illness, these profiles should exhibit distinct patterns consistent with symptoms of mental illness. In contrast to other temperament models used in studies of anxiety disorders, the Functional Ensemble of Temperament (FET) model differentiates not only between emotionality traits, but also between traits related to physical, social-verbal and mental aspects of behavior. This paper analyzed the predictions of the FET model, which maps 12 functional aspects of behavior to symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) as described in the DSM/ICD. As an example, the paper describes a study of the coupling of sex, age and temperament traits with GAD using the FET framework. The intake records of 116 clients in treatment with confirmed diagnosis of GAD in a private psychological practice were compared using ANOVA against records of 146 healthy clients using their scores on the FET-based questionnaire, in age groups 17–24, 25–45, 46–65. Patients with GAD in all age groups reported significantly lower Social Endurance, Social Tempo, Probabilistic reasoning (but not in physical aspects of behavior) and higher Neuroticism than healthy individuals, however, no effects on the scales of Motor Endurance or Tempo were found. These findings show the benefits of differentiation between motor-physical and social-verbal aspects of behavior in psychological assessment of mental disorders.

A Study of the Coupling of FET Temperament Traits with Major Depression

“…Moreover, the changes noted in the presence of MD contrasted dramatically with those previously reported in Generalized Anxiety Disorder, where only four traits showed effects (decreased Social Endurance, Social Tempo, and Sensitivity to Probabilities, increased Neuroticism; Trofimova and Sulis, 2016a). …”

“…It differentiates between traits on the basis of activities, which permits a mapping between certain DSM symptoms and temperament traits. It is also sensitive to the presence of mental illness, resulting in differential effects on temperament profiles in MD and generalized anxiety [Trofimova and Sulis, 2016a,b; and possibly other illnesses (Trofimova and Christiansen, 2016)]. This is a significant advantage over other temperament models which have shown a limited ability to distinguish between these two illnesses.…”

“…Temperament traits, as defined within the FET model, have been shown to react to the presence of generalized anxiety disorder (Trofimova and Sulis, 2016a) and other types of mental illness (Trofimova and Christiansen, 2016). The primary objective of the present study is to further the FET program by examining the coupling between MD and the temperament traits of the FET model.…”

Assessing the continuum between temperament and affective illness: psychiatric and mathematical perspectives

“…Taxonomies based on factor analysis and other statistically derived groupings do not provide any obvious resonance with the continuum underlying temperament and mental illness. They are not very useful in advancing our theoretical understanding of temperament and mental illness [ 82 ].…”

Diversity in action: exchange of perspectives and reflections on taxonomies of individual differences

“…B 373: 20170172 control, psychopathy and empathic capacities, verbal abilities, probabilistic thinking, emotional dispositions and sensory processing sensitivity [10,17,[20][21][22][23][25][26][27][28][29][30]. For me, as a clinician, it is intriguing to observe the strong convergence between the lists of traits identified in temperament research and the lists of symptoms of mental disorders as identified in the DSM/ICD (when these traits are expressed in extreme, pathological form; [17,21,23,26,[29][30][31][32][33]). This correspondence is promising for the development of taxonomies that would cover the continuum between the ideal of 'normality' and mental illness, and, which would be useful for studies in psychopharmacology, psychiatry, neurochemistry and psychophysiology.…”