Personality profiles are different in musician's dystonia and other isolated focal dystonias

Psychological abnormalities have been reported in patients with musician's dystonia. To further differentiate these abnormalities, we evaluated personality traits in musician's dystonia and compared them to those in other isolated focal dystonias. Therefore patients with musician's dystonia (n = 101) and other isolated focal dystonias (n = 85) underwent the Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). Women with musician's dystonia had higher NEO-FFI neuroticism scores, and men significantly higher openness scores compared to women and men with other isolated focal dystonias, respectively. There were negative correlations in men with musician's dystonia between duration of dystonia and the NEO-FFI openness and extraversion scores and between age and extraversion scores. Women with other isolated focal dystonias showed correlations between age and agreeableness and conscientiousness scores. Patients with musician's dystonia are characterized by a specific personality profile with increased neuroticism and openness compared to other isolated focal dystonias. Whether this profile can be traced back to specific underlying disease mechanisms should be further investigated.