Harm avoidance is one of the four temperament dimensions in Cloninger’s psychobiological model of personality (Cloninger et al., 1993). In this model, personality is conceptualized as having four temperament dimensions (novelty seeking, harm avoidance, reward dependence, persistence) and three character dimensions (self-directedness, cooperativeness, self-transcendence). Individuals high in har...

255 Alcoholism tends to run in families: Compared with children of nonalcoholics (non-COA’s), children of alcoholic parents (COA’s) have an approximately four times greater risk of becoming alcoholic themselves (West and Prinz 1987; Cotton 1979; Merikangas et al. 1985). The causal factors underlying the development (i.e., the etiology) of alcohol abuse and dependence, however, have not yet been...

BACKGROUND In 1987, Cloninger proposed a clinical description and classification of different personality traits genetically defined and independent from each other. Moreover, he elaborated a specific test the TCI to investigate these traits/states. The study of craving in Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) assumed a greater significance, since ever more data seems to suggest a direct correlation betwe...

Self-transcendence (ST) is one of specific human experiences often related to harmony with nature or feeling oneness with others or the self as an integral part of the whole universe. The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) is a widely used personality measure, and ST is one of personality dimensions (Cloninger, 1994; Cloninger et al., 1994). Previous studies showed that ST has significan...

Ernest H. Friedman, MD, 1831 Forest Hills Blvd., E. Cleveland, OH 94112-4313 (USA) The neurobiology of stereotypies in sows during chronic stress [ 1 ] is suggested by women’s sudden onset of catatonia and disordered gaze, and compulsive ruminations preceding oculogyric crises [2] linked to inefficient cortical circuits and abnormalities of dopa-mine subserving alcohol-seeking behavior [3], cor...

Borderline Personality Disorder is a serious mental disease, classified in Cluster B of DSM IV-TR personality disorders. People with this syndrome presents an anamnesis of traumatic experiences and shows dissociative symptoms. Since not all subjects who have been victims of trauma develop a Borderline Personality Disorder, the emergence of this serious disease seems to have the fragility of cha...

The recent publication of the book Clinical Neurosis by Philip Snaith – reviewed by Silvana Grandi in this issue [ 1] – may be interpreted by post-DSM-III psychiatrists as a reflection of the longstanding British attraction to antiques. Philip Snaith, however, is not an antiquary, but a careful psychopathologist, whose original contributions in the field of irritable mood and mild depression ar...

Professor Ludĕk Kubička, of Prague, died on 14December 2014, at the age of 90years. Ludĕkwas a leading addiction researcher both in the Czech Republic and internationally, and was admired, respected and loved by students and colleagues world-wide. Ludĕk studied psychology and philosophy at Charles University in Prague, graduating in 1951 and defending his doctoral thesis in 1965. He began his c...

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To understand the neurobiology of individual differences in approach and avoidance behavior, we must anchor constructs at the behavioral level to the long-term global sensitivities of the neural systems that give rise to the observed stable patterns of behavior. We will argue that this requires not only appropriate data at both the neural and behavioral levels but also appropriate account to be...