Is Alexithymia Related to Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia?

Abstract

Background: Alexithymic features are close to anhedonia, blunted affect, and alogia that are also characteristics of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. This study aimed to evaluate whether alexithymia is associated with negative symptoms and is related to the change of schizophrenic symptoms over time. Sampling and Methods: A consecutive sample of 29 schizophrenic outpatients was evaluated at baseline and at 3, 6, and 12 months during appropriate treatment. They completed the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, the Montgomery and Asberg Depression Rating Scale, the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale, and the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale at any time points. Results: The psychiatric scale scores showed significant symptom improvement over time but were unrelated to the alexithymia score that was instead stable over time. Hierarchical regression showed that the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale at baseline was the sole predictor of alexithymia at 12 months, after controlling for psychopathology and psychological functioning. Conclusions: Alexithymia was unrelated to negative symptoms, suggesting it is an independent and separate construct from schizophrenia. As expected, the negative symptoms were associated instead with illness-related aspects of depression and psychosocial functioning. Caution should be expressed in generalization mainly because this study is limited by the small sample size.

The relationship between alexithymia and general symptoms of pregnant women

“…This could mainly be due to the fact that alexithymia in pregnant women remains an understudied topic. In addition, several studies showed that there was no significant relationship between alexithymia and the negative general symptoms [22,23]. Future prospective research is needed to explore the association between alexithymia and the development of mental illnesses.…”

Alexithymia and Personality Disorder Functioning Styles in Paranoid Schizophrenia

“…Maggini and Raballo [19] have shown that difficulty identifying feelings was positively correlated with the positive syndromes (especially delusions) of schizophrenia, while van’t Wout et al [20] have reported that it was correlated with the negative symptoms. Todarello et al [21], however, found no correlation between alexithymia and the positive or negative syndromes of schizophrenia. The inconclusive results might be due to the heterogeneity of schizophrenia, which includes several other forms than the most common paranoid type [22,23].…”

“…The inconclusive results might be due to the heterogeneity of schizophrenia, which includes several other forms than the most common paranoid type [22,23]. Indeed, in the abovementioned studies, scholars had included various forms of schizophrenia [19,20,21], and even schizoaffective disorder [20,21]. …”

Comparison of alexithymia in schizophrenia and somatic diseases

“…Theses authors has determined that the level of alexithymia in schizophrenia is characterized by affective flattening and poor of speech and other symptoms. However, other authors [2] deny this relationship. Theses authors examined the level of alexithymia in 29 patients with schizophrenia.…”

“…Secondary alexithymia has a psycho-emotional nature, the main reason is disorder of interaction with mother on the first year of life. Literary sources reveals a high level of alexithymia in the neuroses and psychosomatic disorders [2,3]. Sung hwa Son et al [4] had studied the level of alexithymia in depression, somatoform, anxiety and psychotic disorders among Koreans.…”