• Title/Summary/Keyword: Alexithymia

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Comparison of Alexithymia among Patients with Psychosomatic Disorders, Anxiety Disorders and Depressive Disorders (정신신체장애, 불안장애 및 우울장애 환자들 간의 Alexithymia의 비교)

  • Koh, Kyung-Bong
    • Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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    • v.2 no.1
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    • pp.59-68
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    • 1994
  • A comparison was made regarding the degree of alexithymia among patients with psychosomatic disorders, anxiety disorders and depressive disorders. The author examined the degree of alexithymia in three groups : 100 psychosomatic patients(including 47 patients with tension headache), 52 outpatients with anxiety disorden, and 50 outpatients with depressive disorders. Alexithymia was assessed by Alexithymia provoked Response Questionnaires(APRQ) developed as a semi-structured interview form. No significant difference was found in the degree of alexithymia among Patients with Psychosomatic disorders, anxiety disorders, and depressive disorders. On the other hand, patients with tension headache were significantly more alexithymic than patients with anxiety disorders and depressive disorders, respectively. However, there was no significant difference in degree of alexithymia between patients with anxiety disorders and those with depressive disorders. Multiple regression analysis revealed that demographic variables such as set age, education level, and marital status did not make a significant influence on alexithymia scores. These results suggest a greater degree of alexithymia in patients with a specific group of psychosomiatic disorders such as tension headache than in patients with emotional disorders, unlike the previous report that in general, psychosomatic patients are alexithymic. Thus, it is necessary to develop special forms of interview which can induce and encourage expression of emotion as a therapeutic strategy for patients with tension headache.

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Alexithymia in Patients with Tension-Type Headache (긴장성 두통 환자에서의 감정표현 불능증)

  • Shin, Dong-In;Ham, Byung-Joo;Kwon, Ho-In;Park, Gun-Woo;Kim, Leen;Suh, Kwang-Yun
    • Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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    • v.9 no.1
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    • pp.56-60
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    • 2002
  • Objective: Various psychological factors influence the occurrence of tension-type headaches. The aim of this study is to compare the level of alexithymia between tension-type headache patients and normal controls. Methods: Sixty-six subjects with tension-type headaches and 59 controls were studied. The Beck Depression Inventory and Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20K) were administered to the tension-type headache group and TAS-20K to the normal control group. Results: Compared with normal controls, the tension-type headache group had significantly higher alexithymia scores. There was also significant association between the level of alexithymia and the severity of the depression in tension-type headache patients. Conclusions: These findings suggest that patients with tension-type headaches have difficulty in expressing their emotions. And in patients with tension-type headaches, the more alexithymic they are, the more depressive.

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The Relationship of Alexithymia and Somatic Symptoms in Elementary School Children (초등학교 고학년의 감정표현불능증과 신체화 증상과의 관계)

  • Jeong, Sun-Mi;Kim, Jin-Ho
    • Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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    • v.22 no.2
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    • pp.125-135
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    • 2009
  • Purpose: This study is to identify the relations between alexithymia, emotional clarification, emotional expressiveness and somatic symptoms, and their effect on the elementary school students. Methods: This study targets 567 elementary school students and they are composed of 288 boy students and 279 girl students in 5th and 6th grade, and 283 in the 5th grade and 284 in the 6th grade. Results: In somatic symptoms, alexithymia, emotional clarification, and emotional expressivness, a significant difference is found. For the somatic symptoms and alexithymia, the subject in grade 5 show higher score than those in grade 6. For the emotional clarification, and emotional expressivness, the subjects in grade 5 show higher scores than those of grade 6. According to sex, only in emotional clarification, a significant difference is found between boys and girls and the girls show higher score that the boys. In looking at the correlations between alexithymia, emotional clarification and somatic symptoms, the somatic symptoms has positive correlations with alexithymia while it has negative correlations with emotional expressiveness. The alexithymia has negative correlations with emotional clarification and emotional expressiveness. It is found that the emotional clarification has positive correlations with emotional expressiveness. Conclusion: In respect to the effect of alexithymia, emotional clarification and emotional expressiveness on somatic symptoms, emotional alexithymia and emotional clarification have effect on somatic symptoms and emotional expressiveness has no effect on somatic symptoms.

A Comparative Analysis on Alexithymia, Rumination, Depression and Somatic Symptoms by Sasang Constitution in Geoje area (사상체질에 따른 감정표현불능 성향, 반추사고, 우울감 및 신체화증상의 비교 분석: 거제지역에 거주하는 일반인을 대상으로)

  • Lee, Bong-Hee;Lee, Woo-Kyeong
    • Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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    • v.25 no.4
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    • pp.330-342
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    • 2013
  • Objectives This study was to examine the differences on alexithymia, rumination, depression and somatic symptoms by each Sasang constitution, and aimed at combining the psychological construct with Korean medical treatment. Methods One hundred eighty men and women aged from 20 to 69 who reside in Geoje-si were selected, and data from 173 people consisting of the three constitutions-Soyangin(39), Taeeumin(83), and Soeumin(51), excepted the minority sample of Taeyangin(7 people)-were analyzed. Collected data were analyzed and tested by IBM SPSS Statistics 20: frequency analysis for demographic data; t-test for gender differences; one-way ANOVA for differences among three constitutions; and Pearson correlation analysis for the correlation between variables. Results The result of t-test taken for the gender differences between variables was not significant. According to the result of one-way ANOVA conducted by different Sasang constitutions, no variables showed a significant result except that of alexithymia. The correlation analysis showed that the alexithymia had positive correlation with rumination, depression, and somatic symptoms. Rumination was in positive correlation with depression and somatic symptoms. Especially, depression had high positive correlation with somatization symptoms. Among the variables analyzed by each constitution, only the survey result of the alexithymia was significant. Conclusions Given that each constitution showed different levels of the alexithymia, it can be concluded that therapeutic intervention in the treatment for the Taeeumin who shows a high level of alexithymia is needed to improve their emotional recognition and expression. In this context, application of program which focus on the emotional ability such as emotion coaching to the Korean medical treatment is expected to improve alexithymia, depression, and somatic symptoms.

Factors Influencing Somatization in Adolescents (청소년의 신체화 증상에 영향을 미치는 요인)

  • Lee, Han-Ju;Seo, Mi-A
    • Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.79-87
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    • 2010
  • Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between depression, alexithymia, social support and somatic symptom in adolescents. Methods: The subjects were 1,519 adolescents in Seoul. Radloff's CES-D (The Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale) for depression, Bagby, Parker and Taylor's TAS (Toronto Alexithymia Scale) for alexithymia, Park's social support and Derogatis's SCL-90 (Brief Symptom Inventory & Matching Clinical Rating Scale) were used. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficients, t or F test, and stepwise multiple regression. Results: Depression and somatic symptom were lower but social support was higher when compared to mean score. The somatic symptom was significantly positive correlations to age, depression, alexithymia but no correlation to social support. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that 21.8% of the somatic symptom was significantly accounted for depression, alexithymia, social support, gender, economic status, living alone, and living with parent. Conclusion: These results suggest that depression, alexithymia, living alone can be potential risk factors for somatic symptom in the adolescents. Therefore, these findings will give useful information for developing a promotion program focused on social support in the adolescents.

The Relation of Alexithymia, Somatic Complaints, Emotion and Vocabulary (감정표현불능증(Alexithymia), 신체적 호소, 정서 및 어휘의 관계)

  • Jeon, Hyun-Tae;Lee, Kuy-Haeng;Kim, Jae-Hyun;Kim, Han-Joo;Yoo, Yong-Jin;So, Kwang
    • Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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    • v.8 no.1
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    • pp.58-64
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    • 2000
  • Objectives : This study aimed to examine a correlation between the somatic complaints, emotion, vocabulary and alexithymia as a component of personality in normal persons. Methods : 204 subjects were collected by age-based systematic sampling from the 662 persons without confirmed medical illness. We used the Korean version of 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale(TAS-20K) to measure alexithymia. The somatic complaints were checked by the list of somatic symptoms on the diagnostic criteria of somatization disorder and major depressive episode in DSM-IV. The vocabulary was evaluated by the total number of associating-words from the spontaneous association of word and the secondary association to given words. The anxiety and depression were evaluated using 5-point self-report scale. Results : 1) The degree of alexithymia was significantly correlated with the somatic complaints, anxiety, depression. 2) The somatic complaints were significantly correlated with the anxiety and depression. 3) The number of associating-words showed negative correlation with the age. 4) The degree of alexithymia was not correlated with the number of associating-words. Conclusion : The more degree of alexithymia increased, the more somatic complaints appeared. There was a significant correlation between the degree of alexithymia, anxiety and depression. But the degree of alexithymia was not correlated with the amount of vocabulary.

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Reduced Heart Rate Variability in Somatic Symptom Disorder: Associations with Alexithymia

  • Lee, Jae Hoon;Jang, Ye Eun;Park, Hye Youn
    • Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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    • v.28 no.1
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    • pp.89-97
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    • 2020
  • Objectives : We investigated heart rate variability (HRV) patterns in patients with somatic symptom disorder (SSD) and the relationships of these patterns with alexithymia. Methods : In total, 42 patients with SSD and 33 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Demographic, psychological, and HRV data were assessed at baseline, and 24 patients with SSD were reassessed after 6 months of treatment. The psychological data included somatic symptoms and levels of depression, anxiety, and alexithymia as indicated by the somatic symptom subscale of the Symptom Checklist 90-Revision (SCL-12), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale 20 (TAS-20), respectively. Results : Patients with SSD had a lower standard deviation of normal-to-normal R-R intervals (SDNN) and lower proportions of adjacent R-R intervals greater than 50 milliseconds (pNN50) compared with controls. These HRV parameters were negatively correlated with alexithymia severity. After treatment, patients exhibited significantly decreased levels of somatic symptoms and reduced anxiety and depression, but there were no significant differences in the HRV parameters. In patients with alexithymia, a high baseline SDNN and pNN50 were associated with a decrease in somatic symptoms. Conclusions : Patients with SSD have different HRV patterns, and several HRV parameters are associated with alexithymia severity. These findings suggest that ANS regulation is involved in the pathophysiology of SSD, mediated by alexithymia. Furthermore, these results suggest that certain HRV parameters may be associated with clinical outcomes of SSD.

The Effect of Emotional Labor of Casino Dealers on Depression : Through a Moderated Mediation Model (카지노 딜러의 감정노동이 우울에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구: 조절된 매개모형을 중심으로)

  • Kim, Ji Young;Lee, Ji Hae
    • The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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    • v.17 no.5
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    • pp.449-460
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    • 2017
  • This study examined the moderated mediation effect, consisting of the moderation effect of alexithymia and the mediation effect of hostility in the relationship between emotional labor and depression of casino dealers. A total of 160 casino dealers (56 males, 94 females) working in a foreigner exclusive casino in Seoul responded to a survey on emotional labor, alexithymia, hostility and depression. SPSS 22.0 Macro was used to verify the moderated mediation effect. First, the level of depression amplified as the emotional labor of casino dealers increased. Hostility had a significant partial-mediation effect on the relationship between emotional labor and depression. Second, the moderation effect of alexithymia was significant, indicating that the interaction effect of emotional labor and alexithymia as well as hostility and alexithymia predicted depression. Third, the moderated mediation effect of alexithymia was significant. Alexithymia moderated the influence of emotional labor on depression, which was mediated through hostility. Implications on how to assist casino dealers on emotional labor were discussed.

Alexithymia : Concept and Implications for Treatment (감정표현불능증 : 그 개념과 치료적 함의)

  • Ham, Byung-Joo;Kim, Leen
    • Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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    • v.9 no.1
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    • pp.18-23
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    • 2002
  • Alexithymia represents deficits in the cognitive processing and regulation of emotions. It is observed in many cases of psychosomatic disease, anorexia nervosa, panic disorder, depression etc. Many studies have shown that alexithymia is associated with maladaptive styles of emotion regulation, low emotional intelligence, interhemispheric transfer deficit, and reduced rapid eye movement density. Psychotherapies that enhance emotional awareness may be effective in alleviating the difficulties of alexithymic individuals. Aexithymia is useful for constructing the role of personality and emotions in the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders. It may serve as a bridge between neurobiology and psychology. We review recent alexithymia theory and research and their implications for treatment of psychosomatic disorders.

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The Effects of Alexithymia, Burnout-, and Adult Attachment on Child Disciplinary Style of Childcare Teachers (보육교사의 감정표현불능증, 소진, 성인애착이 유아훈육방식에 미치는 영향)

  • Cha, Ji-Yeon;Moon, Hyuk-Jun
    • Journal of Families and Better Life
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    • v.31 no.5
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    • pp.33-45
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    • 2013
  • Thise study is designed to demonstrate the influence of socio-demographic variables(age, education, career history and marital Status), alexithymia, burnout, and adult attachment on child disciplinary styles; childcare teachers in charge of young children were studied. The purpose of the study is to provide information about the desirable disciplinary styles of a childcare teacher in order to strengthen the quality of childcare education. The data collected in this study showed the following results: First, the age, education, career history and marital status of a teacher produced good results statistically irrelevant to the their child disciplinary style. Second, a high level of negative correlation was found among alexithymia, burnout, adult attachment and the child disciplinary style of a childcare teacher. In other words, if a teacher shows a high level of alexithymia, burnout, and adult attachment, it is likely that the teacher's child disciplinary style is coercive and neglect, and the teacher tends to give an illogical explanation. Third, in contrast to the other variables, burnout and adult attachment have a greater effect on child disciplinary style than alexithymia.