No abstract

Introduction: Psycho-behavioral studies have shown that sympathetic skin response (SSR), which is an indicator of sympathetic function, is associated with emotional responses. It has been reported that SSR, which is claimed to be a biological indicator of empathy, has increased in Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between SSR and alexithymia, empathy in patients with SAD. Method: SAD patients and control group were applied Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Empathy Quotient, Facial Emotion Identification and Discrimination tests (FID, FDSC); during the application FID, SSR were measured. The relationship between alexithymia and empathy levels were investigated. Results: The number of SSR was higher in all visual stimuli of SAD patients (11.13±3.01) compared to the control group (7.4±3.57). More autonomous activity to negative stimuli (SAD: 10.55±2.82, control: 6.36±3.64), sensitivity to positive stimuli (SAD: 0.58±0.69, control: 1.03±0.8) was less than control group. While 41.7% of SAD patients had alexithymic features, 36.1% were diagnosed with depressive disorder. Conclusion: It was thought that depressive and alexithymic features may have contributed to increased sympathetic sensitivity to negative stimuli in SAD patients. Further studies are needed to examine the effects of this situation on the selection and creation of the treatment modalities.

Sosyal anksiyete bozukluğunda aleksitimi ve sempatik deri yanıtları üzerine ilaç ve psikodrama grup terapisinin etkileri The effects of drug and psychodrama group therapy on alexithymia and sympathetic skin responses in social anxiety disorder SUMMARY Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of emotion recognition, expression and discrimination, and sympathetic skin responses (SSR), the effects of drug and psychodramatic group therapy on social anxiety disorder (SAD). Method: The study included 32 patients with SAD and 16 healthy controls. Sixteen patients in the SAD group received only medication (SAD-I), 16 patients underwent additional psychodramatic group therapy (SAD-II). Participants were applied Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Facial Emotion Identification and Discrimination tests (FID, FDSC); during the application FID, sympathetic skin responses were measured. Results: The scores of SAD-I and SAD-II groups were higher than the control group before the treatment. Although LSAS scores were decreased in SAD groups after treatment, it was still higher than the control group. There was no difference in TAS-20, FID and FDSC scores between the groups after the treatment. Patients with SAD compared to control group SSR rates were found higher before the treatment, more autonomous activity to negative stimuli, sensitivity to positive stimuli was less than control group, after the treatment; SSR rates were determined to be decreased significantly. While patients were finding a chance to experience different types of communication, providing awareness of the situations in which they experience anxiety and accompanying physical symptoms in group therapy, they showed more improvement in recognizing emotions compared to drug treatment. Discussion: While both drug and group therapy provide the ability to reduce anxiety symptoms, improve recognizing and differentiating emotions. Our results have shows that psychodramatic group therapy provides more benefits in recognizing others' feelings.