Alexithymia and global psychosocial functioning: A study on patients with skin disease

Alexithymia in the medically ill. Analysis of 1190 patients in gastroenterology, cardiology, oncology and dermatology

“…Alexithymia is indeed associated with impaired psychosocial functioning in patients with coronary artery disease, brain injury, depressive disorders, inflammatory bowel disease, breast cancer, end-stage renal disease [5], skin disorders [74] and general population [75], beyond sociodemographic variables, psychopathology, medical diagnoses and burden of somatic symptoms. In a large cohort of general population followed-up for 20 years, after all adjustments for covariates and known risk factors, the risk of death for cardiovascular causes was increased by 1.2% for each one-point increase in the Toronto Alexithymia Scale [76].…”

Lower Emotion Awareness in Skin-Restricted Lupus Patients: A Case-Controlled Study

“…High rates of alexithymia have been found in persons suffering from psychiatric conditions, eating disorders [9] or personality disorders, but alexithymia can equally occur among medically ill patients without psychiatric comorbidity. Such data support the hypothesis of a "secondary" alexithymia, associated with or induced by psychiatric Dear Editor, Alexithymia has been associated with several medical illnesses including various skin diseases and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) [1][2][3][4] but there has been no published study in skinrestricted lupus erythematosus (SRL) which comprises discoid lupus erythematosus, lupus tumidus and subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus. Many subsequent works on the alexithymia construct emphasized its association with various mental disorders, particularly depressive disorders.…”

Identifying and describing feelings and psychological flexibility predict mental health in men with HIV

“…Individuals with alexithymia have deficits in identifying and communicating their feelings and show little insight into feelings, symptoms and motivation (Lumley, Neely, & Burger, 2007). DIDF as measured by alexithymia subscales leads to better psychological and psychosocial functioning in medical patients (Picardi et al, 2007) and the general population (Berrocal et al, 2009). Quality of life in the general population is higher when alexithymia scores are lower (Modestin et al, 2004;Saharinen et al, 2008); conversely, a 5-year prospective study in Finland found that alexithymia was associated with increased mortality rates in men (Kauhanen, Kaplan, Cohen, Julkunen, & Salonen, 1996).…”