Social factors in alexithymia
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Toronto Alexithymia Scale
Toronto Alexithymia Scale
Depression
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Abstract Objective The current study elucidates the relations between alexithymia and body image in patients with binge eating disorder (BED). Method One hundred one patients with BED were evaluated. Alexithymia was measured with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS‐20). The severity of BED was measured with the Binge Eating Scale (BES). Body concerns were assessed with the Body Shape Questionnaire‐Short Version (BSQ‐S), the Body Uneasiness Test (BUT), and the Body Attitude Test (BAT). Additional measures were the Rosenberg Self‐Esteem Scale (RSES) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results The prevalence of alexithymia in our sample was 39.6% ( n = 40) and individuals with alexithymia showed higher scores on all rating scales. Higher body dissatisfaction, lower self‐esteem, depressive symptoms, and the Difficulty in Identifying Feelings/Difficulty in Describing Feelings subscales of the TAS‐20 were predictors of the severity of BED in the linear regression analysis. Conclusion Alexithymia was associated with more severe BED. Individuals with alexithymia and BED exhibited significantly poorer appearance evaluation and body satisfaction as well as higher depressive symptoms than individuals without alexithymia. © 2006 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., Int J Eat Disord, 2006
Toronto Alexithymia Scale
Binge-eating disorder
Binge eating
Depression
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Alexithymia refers to difficulties identifying feelings (DIF), describing feelings (DDF), and externally orientated thinking (EOT). Originally conceptualized by American psychiatrists, some researchers have since questioned the validity and application of this construct in Asian cultures. However, to date, there is little empirical work formally assessing the invariance of alexithymia across Asian and Western cultures. The present study aimed to help address this gap, by examining the psychometric properties and measurement invariance of two alexithymia measures, the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ) and Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20), across samples from Singapore (n = 434) or Australia (n = 489). The same theoretically congruent factor structure was supported across both samples; this structure was fully invariant across samples for the PAQ, and partially invariant for the TAS-20. Both measures had good internal consistency and concurrent validity across samples, except the TAS-20 EOT subscale which had low internal consistency and factor loadings in both samples. The Singaporean sample reported higher DIF and DDF for positive emotions than the Australian sample. Overall, our results support the cross-cultural validity and application of the alexithymia construct. The PAQ and TAS-20 both appear to have good utility in this respect, though the PAQ may provide a more detailed facet-level profile.
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Introduction: Alexithymia, which is defined as the difficulty in recognizing, recognizing, distinguishing and expressing emotions, is a term that has emerged in the clinical field. Although it is controversial whether alexithymia is a personality trait or a symptom associated with mental problems, it is known that alexithymia is associated with the symptoms of physical and mental health problems. In this study, we planned to measure the alexithymia level of cystic fibrosis patients followed in our clinic. Material-Method: Patients aged 5-18 years who were followed up with the diagnosis of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) in the Pediatric Chest Diseases Outpatient Clinic of the Meram Medical Faculty Hospital were included in the study. Patients younger than 5 years old and patients older than 18 years were excluded from the study. Patients filled out a questionnaire including sociodemographic characteristics and Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Results: This study included 22 girls (46.8%) and 25 (53.2%) boys. According to the Toronto Alexithymia scale, the total score of the children with CF was 57.45±9.8, the difficulty of recognizing emotion sub-score of the scale was 16.61±6.19, the difficulty of expressing emotions was 13.73±3.45, and the extroverted thinking sub-score was 27.12±3.24. The alexithymia total score of 12 children (25.5%) was above 60 points. A total of 23 children (48.9%) had a total scale score above 50. Discussion: It is known that children with chronic diseases may have difficulties in recognizing and expressing their emotions. In this study, it was observed that children with CF had difficulties in recognizing and expressing emotions, and their expressive thoughts increased.
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Toronto Alexithymia Scale
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The aim of the study was to examine an alexithymia score and depression among people smoking cigarettes and also to examine association between alexithymia, depression and smoking index, nicotine addiction, the motivation to quit smoking. The study comprised 46 people from Warsaw and its environs, without pulmonary, cardiovascular or neoplastic diseases, with at least medium education. The subjects were qualified into two groups: group I (n = 22) - subjects who had never smoked cigarettes, and group II - currently smoking (n=24). The total alexithymia score and scores of alexithymia subscales: difficulty in identifying feelings (TIE), b) difficulty in communicating feelings (TOU), c) externally oriented thinking (OSM) were assessed with Toronto Alexi. thymia Scale 20 (TAS-20). Beck Depression Inventory (Scale) (BDI) was used to evaluate presence and intensification of depression symptoms. The tobacco addiction rate was assessed with the Fagestrom questionnaire, and the motivation to quit smoking with the Schneider test. All data were obtained during individual exami. nations. The mean alexithymia score in the nonsmokers group was 38.6+/-8.8, in the smokers group: 46.6+/-13.0. The differences between the groups were statistically significant (p=0.02). Both difficulty in identifying feelings (TIE) and difficulty in communicating feelings (TOU) scores were significantly higher in the smokers (TIE p=0.01; TOU p=0.03). There were no differences in externally oriented thinking. It was found that people smoking cigarettes had a significantly higher level of intensification of depression symptoms than the controls. There was not any correlation between the total alexithymia score and depression symptoms or smoking index, the degree of nicotine addiction, the motivation to quit smoking.
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Depression
Nicotine dependence
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Objective To find out the level of alexithymia and the relationship between alexithymia and social support of patients with depression. Methods 86 patients with alexithymia were investigated by Toronto Alexithymia Scale(TAS) and Social Support Rating Scale(SSRS). Results The scores of depression patients(75.22 ± 13.93 ) in TAS were significant higher than the controls group ( 60. 19 ± 9.27 ) ( P ＜ 0.01 ).Scores in factor 1-ability of describing feelings and factor 2-ability of identifyings of depression patients were highest, devating the median. Except subjective social support wash't related to all factors of TAS, ability of describing feelings was negatively correlated with the total scores and all factors of SSRS( P ＜ 0. 01 ) , and fancy was positively correlated with the total scores and all factors of SSRS( P ＜ 0.01 ). Conclusion Level of alexithymia was significant correlated with social support for patients with depression, and doctors can improve the situation of social support of depression patients by solving the difficulties in expressing feelings.
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Depression; Alexithymia; Social support
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Alexithymia in Adolescents with Acne: Association with Quality of Life Impairment and Stigmatization
Alexithymia seems to be more common among patients with skin diseases. However, studies on acne patients are very limited. We conducted this study to evaluate alexithymia in adolescents with acne. In our cross-sectional study, 730 high school students (mean age: 17.05 ± 1.18 years) were recruited. The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) was used to measure alexithymia, the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) was employed to study quality of life (QoL), and the 6-item Stigmatization Scale (6ISS) was used to evaluate the level of stigmatization in acne subjects. Alexithymia was found in 31% of adolescents, with similar prevalence among those with and without acne (31.3% and 30.1%, respectively). The mean scoring on the TAS-20 in patients with acne (53.1 ± 12.8 points) was not significantly different from that of the non-acne group (53.5 ± 11.9 points). However, significant correlations between TAS-20 scores and QoL assessments (r = 0.332,
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Toronto Alexithymia Scale
Depression
Etiology
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