Alexithymia and anhedonia in early Richardson's syndrome and progressive supranuclear palsy with predominant parkinsonism

Assogna, Francesca; Pellicano, Clelia; Cravello, Luca; Savini, Cinzia; Macchiusi, Lucia; Pierantozzi, Mariangela; Stefani, Alessandro; Mercuri, B.; Caltagirone, Carlo; Pontieri, Francesco E.; Spalletta, Gianfranco

doi:10.1002/brb3.1448

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…( 2017 ) and Assogna et al. ( 2019 ), patients with PSP‐RS did not differ to PSP‐P for depression symptoms, and depression was not a predictor of phenotypes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory‐II in progressive supranuclear palsy

et al. 2021

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Objectives: Depression is one of the most common neuropsychiatric symptoms in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). Yet, few studies have examined the ability of available instruments to detect depressive symptoms in PSP. Aims of the present study were to (I) report psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory Second Edition (BDI-II) in PSP, (II) establish the BDI-II cut-off indicating the presence of depression in PSP and (III) describe clinical correlates as well as correlation with quality of life of depressive symptoms in PSP. Design, setting and participants: : At the Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases of the University of Salerno, Italy, the BDI-II was validated in 62 PSP patients diagnosed according to the Movement Disorder Society criteria. Patients underwent a clinical interview, a motor evaluation, extensive cognitive and behavioral testing. Results:The mean BDI-II total score was 15.92 ± 10.31. The internal consistency was high (Cronbach's alpha = 0.868); corrected item-total correlation was >0.40 for the majority of items. The significant and moderate correlation of the BDI-II with other tools evaluating depressive symptoms indicated adequate convergent validity of the scale. The satisfactory cut-off to identify patients with clinically significant depression was >14.5. We also showed a correlation between higher scores on BDI-II and lower quality of life, irrespective of motor and cognitive burden. Conclusion:In conclusion, the BDI-II is a reliable and valid tool for the assessment of depression symptoms in PSP. Such data are useful to standardize studies of depression in PSP and to quantify the effectiveness of any interventions on this disabling symptom.

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“…( 2017 ) and Assogna et al. ( 2019 ), patients with PSP‐RS did not differ to PSP‐P for depression symptoms, and depression was not a predictor of phenotypes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory‐II in progressive supranuclear palsy

et al. 2021

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“…Alexithymia and depression are closely related constructs supported by inadequate emotional regulation strategies [ 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 ]. In addition, there is a wide literature about the presence of alexithymic traits in the individuals with suicidal behaviour [ 10 , 64 ] and apathy [ 14 , 15 , 44 ]. Nevertheless, the question still remains if alexithymia predisposes people to depression or at reverse or they co-exist, though most studies consider that alexithymia is not a product of depression [ 65 , 68 , 72 , 73 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although initially described in the context of psychosomatic illness, alexithymic characteristics may be observed in patients with a wide range of psychiatric disorders. However, alexithymia also seems to be a common feature of neurological disease, with most evidence available for patients with traumatic brain injury, stroke, and epilepsy, associated frequently with mood disorders such as depression and anxiety (see review [ 14 , 15 ]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alexithymia has also been reported frequently in patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease (PD) [ 20 , 21 , 22 ], but it is still not clear whether it is linked to depression [ 20 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ]. In a recent work, Assogna et al [ 15 ] studied the alexithymia in two variants of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), Richardson’s syndrome (PSP-RS), and PSP with predominant parkinsonism (PSP-P) compared to PD. Alexithymic symptoms differentiate PSP-RS group from PD group but not between the two subtypes of PSP.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Alexithymia in Alzheimer’s Disease

Arroyo-Anlló

Souchaud

Ingrand

et al. 2020

JCM

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Alexithymia is widely recognized as the inability to identify and express emotions. It is a construct which consists of four cognitive traits such as difficulty in identifying feelings, describing feelings to others, externally oriented thinking, and limited imaginative capacity. Several studies have linked alexithymia to cognitive functioning, observing greater alexithymia scores associated with poorer cognitive abilities. Despite Alzheimer’s disease (AD) being a neurodegenerative pathology characterized by cognitive troubles from the early stages, associated to behavioral and emotional disturbances, very few investigations have studied the alexithymia in AD. These studies have shown that alexithymia scores—assessed with Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS)—were greater in AD patients than healthy participants. The objective of the study was to investigate if the alexithymia was present in patients with mild AD. We hypothesized that the AD group would show more alexithymia features than the control group. We evaluated 54 subjects, including 27 patients diagnosed with mild AD and 27 normal healthy controls, using the Shalling Sifneos Psychosomatic Scale (SSPS-R) and a neuropsychological test battery. Using non-parametric statistical analyses—Wilcoxon and Mann–Whitney U tests—we observed that the SSPS-R scores were similar in the AD and control groups. All participants showed SSPS-R scores below to 10 points, which means no-alexithymia. We did not find significant correlations between SSPS-R scores and cognitive variables in both groups (p > 0.22), but we observed a negative association between name abilities and alexithymia, but it does not reach to significance (p = 0.07). However, a significant correlation between SSPS-R score and mood state, assessed using Zerssen Rating Scale, was found in both groups (p = 0.01). Because we did not find a significant difference in the alexithymia assessment between both subject groups, pot hoc analyses were computed for each item of the SSPS-R. We made comparisons of alexithymic responses percentages in each SSPS-R item between AD and control groups, using Fisher’s test. We observed that AD patients produced more alexithymic responses in some items of SSPS-R test than the control group, particularly about difficulties to find the words to describe feelings, as well as difficulties of imagination capacity and externally oriented thinking. The present results do not confirm our hypothesis and they do not support the results of previous studies revealing great alexithymia in AD.

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“…Interestingly, revising the diagnosis from FND to a neurodegenerative disorder was not met with resistance in this case, in spite of the arguably worse prognosis associated with PSP. Whilst neuropsychometric testing did not reveal gross cognitive impairment, it is possible a degree of alexithymia may have accounted for this (though this was not formally assessed) [ 10 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revising a diagnosis of functional neurological disorder—a case report

Berry

Wiethoff

2020

Oxford Medical Case Reports

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We report a case of a 62-year-old female diagnosed with functional neurological disorder (FND), where the diagnosis was eventually revised to progressive supranuclear palsy 3 years after symptom onset. FND is a commonly encountered condition and can be diagnosed with a considerable degree of confidence in most cases. FND is associated with significant functional impairment and may occur alongside other neurological disorders, and there is now a growing evidence base for symptom-specific FND treatments. Charting clinical progression of symptoms and serial neuroimaging were useful in refining the diagnosis in this case. Alhough the diagnosis was ultimately revised to a neurodegenerative disorder, a degree of functional overlay likely remained present. The case highlights the importance of recognizing and avoiding diagnostic overshadowing in those with FND.

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Alexithymia and anhedonia in early Richardson's syndrome and progressive supranuclear palsy with predominant parkinsonism

Cited by 8 publications

References 20 publications

Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory‐II in progressive supranuclear palsy

Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory‐II in progressive supranuclear palsy

Alexithymia in Alzheimer’s Disease

Revising a diagnosis of functional neurological disorder—a case report

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