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Volume 19, Issue 5 (3-2014)                   Intern Med Today 2014, 19(5): 33-39 | Back to browse issues page

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afshari A, afshar H, shafiee K, adibi N. Dimentions of Alexithymia, and their relationships to Anxiety and Depression in Psychodermatologic patients. Intern Med Today 2014; 19 (5) :33-39
URL: http://imtj.gmu.ac.ir/article-1-1811-en.html
1- Isfahan University
2- isfahan university of medical science
3- Isfahan University of medical science
4- psychosomatic research center , neda adibi 705@gmail.com
Abstract:   (8042 Views)
Aims: Alexithymia is a personality trait that demonstrates inability in emotional expression. This trait emerging from emotion disregulation has an effective role in etiology of psychosomatic illnesses. Psychosomatic patients, due to somatic illness and also difficulty in emotion regulation, experience anxiety and depression symptoms that exacerbate each other in a cycle with dermatologic illnesses. Methods: In this post-hoc, cross-sectional and correlational study, Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were administered to all 215 patients who were referred to psychodermatology clinic of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences from autumn 2010 to autumn 2012. The final sample consisted of 140 patients. To analyze the data, we used SPSS software V.18. Results: The results showed that the frequency of high alexithymia, anxiety and depression in psychodermatologic patients were 41.8%, 51.2% & 40%, respectively. Assessing the relationship between alexithymia and its subscales with anxiety and depression showed that there were significant positive correlations between alexithymia and difficulty in identifying and describing feelings with anxiety and depression (p<0/001). The results of regression analyses of alexithymia on anxiety and depression showed that difficulty in identifying and describing feelings predicts depression and difficulty in identifying feelings predicts anxiety in patients. Conculusion: Alexithymia predicts anxiety and depression of psychodermatology patients and a complete treatment of these patients should be considered.
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Type of Study: Original | Subject: Mental Health
Received: 2013/07/20 | Accepted: 2014/03/11 | Published: 2014/03/11

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