Alexithymia: Relationship to Severity of Medical Illness and Depression

127

Background: We studied the factors associated with alexithymia in 137 depressed outpatients. Methods: Diagnosis of depression was confirmed by means of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R. Alexithymia was screened using the 20-item version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Severity of depression was assessed using the 21-item Beck Depression Inventory, and other psychiatric symptoms with the help of the Symptoms Checklist (SCL-90). Life satisfaction was also assessed with a structured scale. Results: Almost half of the patients were considered alexithymic. They were significantly more often male, unmarried and had a lower education than the nonalexithymic patients. Alexithymic patients more often showed psychiatric symptoms (SCL-90) and were also more often severely depressed and dissatisfied with their life than were the other patients. Logistic regression analyses revealed that four factors were independently associated with alexithymia: male gender, a low level of education, low life satisfaction and severe depression. Sleep disturbances were independently associated with alexithymia in men and severe depression in women. Conclusions: Alexithymia is very common among patients with depressive disorder. An awareness of these risk factors would be useful in improving the efficacy of treatment.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Associated with Alexithymia in Patients Suffering from Depression

Honkalampi

Saarinen

Hintikka

et al. 1999

127

“…A relationship between depressive mood and alexithymia has been found in several studies [6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]. However, contradictory views prevail concerning the exact nature of this connection.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Is Alexithymia a Permanent Feature in Depressed Patients?

Honkalampi

Hintikka

Saarinen

et al. 2000

138

Background: A six-month follow-up study was conducted to determine whether alexithymia is a permanent feature in 169 depressed outpatients. Methods: Diagnosis of depression was confirmed by means of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID-I). Alexithymia was screened using the 20-item version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and severity of depression was assessed using the 21-item Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results: Almost 40% of the patients were considered alexithymic at baseline, but only 23% at follow-up. Alexithymic patients were more often moderately or severely depressed than other patients in both study phases. The BDI scores explained 23% (at baseline) and 42% (at follow-up) of the variation in TAS-20 scores. The decrease in the TAS-20 scores was associated with a concurrent decrease in BDI scores. Conclusions: Alexithymic patients with depressive disorders do not appear to form a stable group. On the contrary, alexithymia seems to change as a function of depression. In the light of these results, alexithymia appears not to be a stable personality trait among depressed patients, and furthermore, it seems possible that alexithymic features respond to psychiatric treatment.

“…Finally, the ‘externally oriented thinking’ factorial subscale showed an unsatisfactory internal consistency [20]. Alexithymia also may be a derivative of a depressed mood since it is strongly correlated with depression and TAS levels diminish as the individual becomes euthymic [27,28,29,30]. Thus, secondary alexithymia is potentially more common in depressed individuals with or without a comorbid medical disorder [31].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kellner’s Emotional Inhibition Scale: A Clinimetric Approach to Alexithymia Research

Grandi

Sirri

Wise

et al. 2011

Self Cite

Background: Emotional inhibition has been an enduring concept in the psychosomatic literature explaining the onset and course of medical disorders. Currently the personality style of alexithymia is a focus of this dimension in psychosomatic theory, while actual conscious emotional inhibition, which may overlap with alexithymia, has received less attention. In the early 80s Robert Kellner developed the Emotional Inhibition Scale (EIS), a self-rating scale for emotional inhibition based on clinimetric principles. In this study we explored whether the EIS differentiated a sample of cardiac recipients from normal controls, as well as the associations between the EIS and 2 measures of alexithymia, i.e. the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20) and the Diagnostic Criteria for Psychosomatic Research (DCPR). We also examined whether the EIS and the TAS-20 were differently related to depressive symptoms measured by the Symptom Questionnaire (SQ). Methods: Ninety-five heart-transplanted patients and a sample of normal controls, matched for sociodemographic variables, were administered the EIS (total score and 4 subscales concerning ‘verbal inhibition’, ‘timidity’, ‘disguise of feelings’, and ‘self-control’), the TAS-20, the SQ, and the Structured Interview according to the DCPR for alexithymia. Results: Cardiac recipients did not display significant differences compared to normal controls in observer (DCPR) and self-rated (TAS-20) measures of alexithymia. There were, however, significant differences in EIS with regard to ‘disguise of feelings’. In both groups the EIS ‘verbal inhibition’ and ‘timidity’ subscales were positively associated with the TAS-20, while the EIS ‘disguise of feelings’ and ‘self-control’ subscales were independent of alexithymia. Depressive symptoms were more related to TAS-20 than EIS total scores. Conclusions: Our results suggest that emotional inhibition and alexithymia are distinct phenomena even though they may share certain features. The EIS appears to be relatively independent of depressed mood and will be useful in assessing the individual’s conscious management of affect in future psychosomatic research.