Alexithymia in Egyptian Substance Abusers

Abstract

Alexithymia is thought of as a trait that predisposes to drug abuse. Moreover, it is suggested to be related to type of the substance abused, with the worst-case scenario including a worse prognosis as well as tendency to relapse or even not to seek treatment at all. To address this important subject in Egyptian patients, a sample of 200 Egyptian substance abusers was randomly selected from inpatients in the Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, Egypt. The study also included 200 group-matched controls. DSM-IV criteria were used for assessment of substance use disorders, and toxicologic urine analysis was used to confirm the substances of abuse. Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS)-Arabic version was used for assessment of alexithymia. It was found that alexithymia was significantly more prevalent in the substance use disorders group as compared to healthy controls. It was also found that among the substance use disorders group, alexithymics reported more polysubstance abuse, more opiate use (other than heroin IV), lower numbers of hospitalizations, lower numbers of reported relapses, and a lower tendency to relapse as a result of internal cues compared to patients without alexithymia. Statistically significant associations were also found between alexithymia and more benzodiazepine abuse and nonpersistence in treatment. The results suggest that alexithymia should be targeted in a treatment setting for substance use disorders.

Study of Vulnerability to Addiction With Regard to Self-Efficacy and Alexithymia in High School Students

“…These results agree with the findings of previous studies (Rasheed, 2001;Pinard et al, 1996;Thorberg et al, 2009;Uzun, 2003;Cleland et al, 2005;Besharat, Nourbakhsh , Rostami, 2014).…”

“…A study on the addicted men in Egypt showed that people who took several substances were more prone to alexithymia than people who took one drug (Rasheed, 2001). Also the results of several studies have confirmed the positive relationship between alexithymia and severity of alcohol use disorder (Cecero and Holmstrom, 1997;Haviland et al, 1988).…”

Testing gender effects on the mechanisms explaining the association between post-traumatic stress symptoms and substance use frequency

“…A number of studies suggest that these two mechanisms are associated with PTSD (APA, 1994; Feeny, Zoellner, Fitzgibbons & Foa, 2000; Hyer, Woods, Summers, Boudewyns, & Harrison, 1990; Monson, Price, Rodriques, Ripley, & Warner, 2004; Tull, Barrett, McMillan, and Roemer, 2007) and SUDs (El Rasheed, 2001; Fox, Axelrod, Paliwal, Sleeper, & Sinha, 2007; Loas, Fremaux, Otmani, Lecercle, & Delahousse, 1997). For example, in a sample of substance users, Handelsman and colleagues (2000) found a relationship between difficulty recognizing and naming emotions and PTSD symptoms (see Zlotnick, Mattia, & Zimmerman, 2001 for similar results).…”

“I’m Not Waving, I’m Drowning”

“…As one ex-user protests, it "wasn't healthy to mute the world the way benzos do it" (Drugs-forum, 2014). Known as alexithymia, the inability to process or express emotion is a phenomenon reported in drug users and ex-users (El Rasheed, 2001;Lindsay & Ciarrochi, 2009). Lindsay and Ciarrochi found a lack of correspondence between perceived and clinical alexithymia in their study of newly abstinent substance users.…”