Personality takes an important role in etiology of psychosomatic disorders. The studies conducted with Temperament and Character Inventory which investigates the personality according to psychobiological model is considered to have a major role in understanding the relationship between personality and psychosomatic disorders. In order to emphasize the previous studies on this subject, we have done database search in Pubmed and Turk Psikiyatri Dizini (Turkish Psychiatry Directory) for the time

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... riod between 1991 and 2009 to determine and evaluate the articles conducted among somatization, dermatologic illness, headache, physical medicine, angina, irritable bowel syndrome and asthma patients using Temperament and Character Inventory. The most significant consistent result of these studies was elevated harm avoid-ance scores. Harm avoidance scores still remain high even after controlling for the effect of depression and anxiety. Thus this temperament dimension is possibly an important state and trait feature for development of psychosomatic illnesses. These findings also confirmed that serotonergic systems get involved in the process of psychosomatic organization. In many studies, the mean scores of self direction sub-dimension of Temperament and Character Inventory which has been considered as the fundamental dimension to achieve mature personality, was found to be lower in psychosomatic patient groups than normal healthy control. This result hence supports the notion that process of illness affects the personality among these patients. Detailed evaluation of temparement and character profiles of psychosomatic patients would contribute much into understanding the etiology of these disorders.