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KMID : 1118520120090040325
Psychiatry Investigation
2012 Volume.9 No. 4 p.325 ~ p.331
A Comparative Study on Alexithymia in Depressive, Somatoform, Anxiety, and Psychotic Disorders among Koreans
Son Sung-Hwa

Jo Hyun-Young
Rim Hyo-Deog
Kim Ju-Hee
Kim Hea-Won
Bae Geum-Ye
Lee Seung-Jae
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
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SCI(E) ÇмúÁøÈïÀç´Ü(KCI) KoreaMed