Aim: To assess alexithymia and quality of life among patients of somatoform disorders (SFD) compared with healthy control subjects and to assess the association between alexithymia and facial emotion recognition ability and its influence on quality of life within diagnostic subgroups of SFD.Materials and methods: Forty-three patients diagnosed to have SFD (International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10) were assessed on the World Health Organization (WHO) SFD symptom checklist, Toronto Alexithymia Scale-26 (TAS-26), Tool for Recognition of Emotions in Neurological Disorders (TRENDS) and WHO Quality of Life (QOL) BREF to measure quality of life. They were compared with a control group of 47 healthy subjects.Results: Patients with SFD had greater alexithymia scores and poorer quality of life compared with controls. A novel observation was the inverse correlation between alexithymia and facial emotion recognition deficit, specifically in the diagnostic subgroup of persistent somatoform pain disorder compared with other diagnostic subtypes. Conclusion:Alexithymia is an important trait influencing quality of life, especially in patients with a diagnosis of persistent somatoform pain disorder and is associated with deficits in facial emotion recognition.Clinical significance: Association between alexithymia and facial emotion recognition is predominant in patients with somatoform pain disorder. Psychological interventions focusing on improving social cognition could potentially play a role in improving the quality of life in patients with persistent somatoform pain disorder.

BACKGROUNDPreoperative anxiety, an unpleasant state of uneasiness in preoperative period is known to increase the anaesthetic requirement intraoperatively, analgesic requirement peri-operatively and duration of stay in the hospital. Various studies have found incidence of preoperative anxiety as 60-80%. Studies regarding incidence of preoperative anxiety in India are very few and so are the scales which measure pre-operative anxiety in various Indian languages. We could not find any validated scale in Malayalam language for measurement of preoperative anxiety. Here we attempt to translate Amsterdam preoperative anxiety and Information scale (APAIS) to Malayalam and evaluate its psychometric properties.

Background: Suicide is a psychiatric emergency. It contributes for substantial portion of preventive deaths. Medical professionals bear responsibility of providing optimal primary care to a suicidal person and reducing stigma towards suicide. Their attitudes towards suicide or a suicidal person determines the quality of care given to them. This study attempts to quantitatively assess attitudes of undergraduate medical students towards suicide and a suicidal person. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a medical college hospital of Kerala. Total 287 first& second year medical students who were not exposed to psychiatry teaching were recruited for the study by total enumeration method. Eskin's attitude towards suicide scale (E-ATSS) and Eskin's Social Reactions to Suicidal Persons Scale (E-SRSPS) were administered. Responses were collected in 5 point likert scale ranging from 'completely disagree' to 'completely agree'. Results: On E-ATSS, Communicating psychological problems had a high mean score with minimal standard deviation(4.25+/-0.35) & acceptability of suicide scored the least(1.46+/-0.62) while the social acceptance of a suicidal person & helping had high scores (4.34+/-0.82, 4.28+/-0.23) on E-ATSPS. Conclusion: Students participated in this study have more of rejecting attitudes towards suicide. But less than half of them take it as a sign of mental illness. When it comes to attitude towards a suicidal person, our medical students have a very high acceptance score and also are ready to help them. Studies involving students who complete undergraduate psychiatry training will help to know about the change that the training brings into the attitudes.