Differential profiles in anxiety disorders

Anxiety disorders research have generated a great amount of studies in last decades. However, their conceptual clarification still remain as one of the most complex issues. Firstly, there are difficulties in how to clearly differentiate several disorders and their symptomatology; secondly, there is an additional problem in how to differentiate anxiety disorders and other related disorders, which has implied the development and transformation of different nosologies. Furthermore, another clinical-related problem is the different anxiety characteristics in different disorders. This line of research has been poorly explored. In the present study, differential anxiety characteristics of several disorders (simple phobia, social phobia, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety and obssesivecompulsive disorder) have been explored, by using the Inventory of Situations and Responses of Anxiety - ISRA-, which provides the assessment of the three response systems (cognitive, physiological and motor), the general level of anxiety and four specific areas in where such reactions take place. Results show that there are concordant response profiles in each disorders group and in controls, and significant differences have found when groups were compared. As well, there are high significant differences in situational profiles both in inter and intragroup comparisons.