Somatization and alexithymia in young adult Finnish population

We assessed alexithymia and alexithymic features among young adult subjects with and without somatization symptoms in an epidemiological setting with a sample of young adults. The sample consisted of urban 31-year-old subjects ( N=1002). Data on somatization were gathered from a review of all public...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:General hospital psychiatry 2005-07, Vol.27 (4), p.244-249
Main Authors: Karvonen, Juha T., Veijola, Juha, Kokkonen, Pirkko, Läksy, Kristian, Miettunen, Jouko, Joukamaa, Matti
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Affective Symptoms - diagnosis
Affective Symptoms - epidemiology
Alexithymia
Biological and medical sciences
Cohort Studies
Epidemiologic Studies
Epidemiology
Female
Finland - epidemiology
Humans
Male
Medical Audit
Medical sciences
Population study
Prevalence
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Somatization
Somatoform Disorders - diagnosis
Somatoform Disorders - epidemiology
Somatoform disorders. Psychosomatics
TAS-20
Urban Population
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Summary:We assessed alexithymia and alexithymic features among young adult subjects with and without somatization symptoms in an epidemiological setting with a sample of young adults. The sample consisted of urban 31-year-old subjects ( N=1002). Data on somatization were gathered from a review of all public health outpatient records. Subjects with four or more somatization symptoms according to the DSM-III-R criteria were considered somatizers. The 20-item version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) was used to measure alexithymia. Subjects with a total TAS score over 60 were considered as being alexithymic, and those with a score under 52 were considered nonalexithymic. Subjects with a total TAS score from 52 to 60 were considered as having alexithymic features. The prevalence of alexithymia was 6.0% among somatizers and 4.8% among subjects without somatization symptoms, and the prevalence of alexithymic features was 7.5% and 12.6%, respectively. No association was found between alexithymia and somatization in young adult general population. The earlier theory of the association between alexithymia and somatization may be questionable.
ISSN:0163-8343
1873-7714
DOI:10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2005.04.005