Psychiatry Investig.  2012 Dec;9(4):325-331.

A Comparative Study on Alexithymia in Depressive, Somatoform, Anxiety, and Psychotic Disorders among Koreans

• Son SH
• Jo H
• Rim HD
• Kim JH
• Kim HW
• Bae GY
• Lee SJ

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Little is known about the characteristic differences in alexithymic construct in various psychiatric disorders because of a paucity of direct comparisons between psychiatric disorders. Therefore, this study explored disorder-related differences in alexithymic characteristics among Korean patients diagnosed with four major psychiatric disorders (n=388).
METHODS
Alexithymic tendencies, as measured by the Korean version of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20K), of patients classified into four groups according to major psychiatric diagnosis were compared. The groups consisted of patients with depressive disorders (DP; n=125), somatoform disorders (SM; n=78), anxiety disorders (AX; n=117), and psychotic disorders (PS; n=68).
RESULTS
We found that substantial portions of patients in all groups were classified as having alexithymia and no statistical intergroup differences emerged (42.4%, 35.9%, 35.3%, and 33.3% for DP, SM, PS, and AX). However, patients with DP obtained higher scores in factor 2 (difficulties describing feelings) than those with SM or AX, after adjusting for demographic variables.
CONCLUSION
These findings suggest that alexithymia might be associated with a higher vulnerability to depressive disorders and factor 2 of TAS-20K could be a discriminating feature of depressive disorders.

Keyword

Alexithymia; Depressive disorder; Somatoform disorder; Anxiety disorder; Psychotic disorder

MeSH Terms

Affective Symptoms
Anxiety
Anxiety Disorders
Depressive Disorder
Humans
Mental Disorders
Psychotic Disorders
Somatoform Disorders