individuals at risk for other medical and psychiatric disorders while
reducing the likelihood that these individuals will respond to
conventional treatments for the other conditions. Alexithymia is not
classified as a mental disorder in the DSM-IV. It is a dimensional
personality trait that varies in severity from person to person. A
person's alexithymia score can be measured with questionnaires such as
the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia
Questionnaire (BVAQ), the Online Alexithymia Questionnaire (OAQ-G2)[5]
or the Observer Alexithymia Scale (OAS).
Alexithymia is defined by:
difficulty identifying feelings and distinguishing between feelings
and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal
difficulty describing feelings to other people
constricted imaginal processes, as evidenced by a scarcity of fantasies
a stimulus-bound, externally oriented cognitive style.
According to wiki, less than 10% of the population demonstrates this
trait and it is more common in males than females which may be a
cultural artifact. No indication of pre-morbid traits or comparison to
other neurological diseases.
Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol. 2011 Oct-Dec;24(4):1017-25.
Psychophysical distress and alexithymic traits in chronic fatigue
syndrome with and without comorbid depression.
Sepede G, Racciatti D, Gorgoretti V, Nacci M, Pizzigallo E, Onofrj M,
Di Giannantonio M, Niolu C, Salerno RM, Gambi F.
Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, University of Chieti, Italy.
Abstract
Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) often report a comorbid
depressive disorder. Comorbid depression may negatively influence the
long-term outcome of CFS therefore it must be correctly diagnosed and
treated. The aim of the present study is to provide a clinical and
psychometric assessment of CFS patients with and without depressive
features.
A comparative analysis between 57 CFS subjects (CDC, 1994), 17 of whom
with a comorbid depression, and 55 matched healthy volunteers was
assessed to evaluate the presence of any psychophysical distress and
alexithymic traits, by means of Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90R) and
Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20).
The severity of fatigue was also assessed in all CFS patients using
the Fatigue Impact Scale (FIS).
With regard to psychiatric comorbidity, the SCL-90R scores showed
higher levels of somatic complaints in CFS patients than in healthy
subjects, whereas augmented depressive and obsessive-compulsive
symptoms were observed only in the depressed CFS subgroup.
When comparing the TAS-20 scores, we observed a selective impairment
in the capacity to identify feelings and emotions, as measured by the
Difficulty in Identifying Feelings subscale (DIF), non-depressed CFS
patients showing an intermediate score between depressed CFS and
healthy controls.
Finally, in terms of FIS scores, a statistical trend versus a higher
fatigue severity in depressed CFS patients, with respect to
non-depressed ones, was observed.
In conclusion, comorbid depression in CFS significantly increased the
level of psychophysical distress and the severity of alexithymic
traits. These findings suggest an urgent need to address and treat
depressive disorders in the clinical care of CFS cases, to improve
social functioning and quality of life in such patients.
PMID: 22230407 [PubMed - in process]
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