Korean J Psychopharmacol.  2009 Nov;20(6):316-324.

Quality of Life of Patients with Depressive Disorder Receiving Antidepressants: Relationship between Quality of Life and Alexithymia

• Ryu SH

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between quality of life (QoL) and alexithymia in patients with depressive disorders receiving antidepressant medication.
METHODS
The sample consisted of patients visiting the outpatient psychiatric unit of a university hospital between January 2007 and June 9. Participants completed the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20-K (TAS-20-K), and the 36-item Short Form Health Survey of the Medical Outcomes Study (SF-36). A total of 75 patients diagnosed with depressive disorder according to DSM-IV criteria were included in this study. Student t-tests and regression analyses were conducted on the data.
RESULTS
Patients with alexithymia obtained lower QoL scores than did patients without alexithymia on eight dimensions of the SF-36. The regression analysis showed that alexithymia was positively associated with hostility and inversely associated with paranoid ideation.
CONCLUSION
Patients with alexithymia emerged as more symptomatic on the SCL-90-R and obtained lower QoL scores on eight dimensions of the SF-36 than did patients without alexithymia. It is important that clinicians identify alexithymic characteristics in patients with depressive disorders to help them improve their QoL.

Keyword

Alexithymia; Quality of life; Depressive disorder

MeSH Terms

Affective Symptoms
Depression
Depressive Disorder
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Health Surveys
Hostility
Humans
Outpatients
Quality of Life