The effect of personality on withdrawal severity and 
taper outcome in benzodiazepine dependent patients

Schweizer, Edward E.; Rickels, Karl; Martinis, N. De; Case, George W.; García‐España, Felipe

doi:10.1017/s0033291798006540

Cited by 51 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…This finding may not be surprising as high neuroticism scores have repeatedly been reported in the literature as negative predictors of treatment outcome, both in major depressive disorder patients treated either with medication [23,24] or with dynamic psychotherapy [25] and in GAD patients treated with medication or placebo [7,26,27,28]. Further, our group found a lower neuroticism and MMPI dependence score to be a consistent predictor of a favorable BZ discontinuation outcome in long-term BZ users [29,30]. Moreover, most recently Culpers et al [31] reported extremely high costs of neuroticism in the community, exceeding by far those of many psychiatric disorders.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

Remission of Generalized Anxiety Disorder after 6 Months of Open-Label Treatment with Venlafaxine XR

Rickels¹,

Etemad²,

Rynn³

et al. 2013

Psychother Psychosom

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Background: Remission has become one of the leading outcome criteria in clinical trials. Data collected by this research group assessed the rate of remission after 6 months of treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) with venlafaxine XR, to search for predictors of remission and to define how early on in treatment later remission can be predicted. Method: Two hundred sixty-eight patients with a GAD diagnosis enrolled into an open-label 6-month-treatment trial with venlafaxine XR (75-225 mg/day). Remission was defined by a Hamilton anxiety scale total score ≤7. Logistic regression approaches were used to find out how early on in treatment later remission could be predicted, as well as to determine predictors of remission. In addition, adverse events were also followed over time. Results: While the total enrolled patient sample (n = 268) had a remission rate of 53%, 6-month completers (n = 159) had a remission rate of 79%. The only statistically significant predictor of remission, independent of baseline anxiety and depression levels, was a low Eysenck neuroticism score. The remission status outcome could best be predicted after 8 weeks of treatment when a CGI-I score of 1 or 2 predicted later remission with 78% accuracy and later nonremission with 91% accuracy. The incidence of adverse events decreased over the 6-month period, with sexual adverse events decreasing the least. Conclusion: The only significant predictor of remission was a low score on the Eysenck neuroticism scale. The earliest reliable prediction of later remission, based on improvement, could be made after 8 weeks of treatment with 91% accuracy.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

Remission of Generalized Anxiety Disorder after 6 Months of Open-Label Treatment with Venlafaxine XR

Rickels¹,

Etemad²,

Rynn³

et al. 2013

Psychother Psychosom

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“…For example, personality traits emerged as use-ful predictors of treatment outcome in patients with gastrointestinal disorders [5] , obesity [6] , hyperopia [7] and even individual responses to certain surgical treatments seem to be associated with personality [8,9] . In psychiatry, personality traits have been successfully linked to treatment outcome in depression [10] , anorexia nervosa [11,12] , schizophrenia [13] and withdrawal severity in benzodiazepine dependence [14] . In alcoholism research, personality traits have become a matter of scientific interest as well [15][16][17][18][19][20] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personality Traits Predict Treatment Outcome in Alcohol-Dependent Patients

et al. 2008

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Personality traits are important individual characteristics modifying responses to therapy in various diseases. The aim of this study was to identify personality traits that may predict treatment outcome in alcohol-dependent patients. The present analysis was based on a total of 146 alcohol-dependent patients (109 male, 37 female) after detoxification. The variable of interest was treatment outcome (abstinence/relapse) after a 1-year follow-up. To identify personality traits as predictors of treatment outcome, 5 personality questionnaires (NEO 5-Factor Inventory, Temperament and Character Inventory, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Eysenck Impulsiveness-Venturesomeness-Empathy Scale and Sensation-Seeking Scale) were applied. Data analysis was performed by using a classification and regression tree analysis (CART; a nonparametric technique for data with a complex structure) in order to find a decision rule to predict treatment outcome from personality traits. The CART model identified psychoticism and persistence as the 2 most relevant discriminatory parameters, of which psychoticism was used as the first node in the model, classifying 64% of the patients correctly as relapsed and 12% correctly as abstinent. In addition, the risk of relapse was even higher in patients with a substantial score in psychoticism and a low score in persistence. When comparing relapsed and abstinent patients, further variables, such as scores for novelty seeking (20.9 ± 5.5 vs. 18.5 ± 5.9) and impulsiveness (8.4 ± 3 vs. 7.2 ± 3.5), showed significance. In addition, relapsed patients lived alone more often than abstinent patients (52 vs. 25%, p = 0.004). In conclusion, this analysis demonstrated that specific personality characteristics, namely psychoticism and persistence, are usable predictors for the risk of relapse in alcohol-dependent patients.

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“…Further, a higher level of psychopathology, especially anxiety and depressive symptoms, resulted in lower abstinence rates, as did the personality traits of neuroticism, dependence, and vulnerability (10,11,(15)(16)(17)(18). The impact of benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms varies, probably owing to mediation by personality traits (16)(17)(18)20). However, neither the severity of benzodiazepine dependence nor the diagnosis of benzodiazepine dependence have been examined in relation to taper outcome (21), despite its apparent importance in long-term use (3).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of Long-Term Benzodiazepine Abstinence in Participants of a Randomized Controlled Benzodiazepine Withdrawal Program

et al. 2006

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The effect of personality on withdrawal severity and taper outcome in benzodiazepine dependent patients

Cited by 51 publications

References 18 publications

Remission of Generalized Anxiety Disorder after 6 Months of Open-Label Treatment with Venlafaxine XR

Remission of Generalized Anxiety Disorder after 6 Months of Open-Label Treatment with Venlafaxine XR

Personality Traits Predict Treatment Outcome in Alcohol-Dependent Patients

Predictors of Long-Term Benzodiazepine Abstinence in Participants of a Randomized Controlled Benzodiazepine Withdrawal Program

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