Alexithymia and Somatization in Chronic Pain Patients: A Sequential Mediation Model

Overview

Journal Front Psychol

Date 2020 Nov 16

PMID 33192791

Citations 13

Authors

Roberta Lanzara

Chiara Conti

Martina Camelio

Paolo Cannizzaro

Vittorio Lalli

Rosa Grazia Bellomo

Raoul Saggini

Piero Porcelli

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate whether chronic pain (CP) patients with somatization reported higher alexithymic traits than those without somatization and to study the different relationships between psychological characteristics, pain, health-related quality of life (HRQL), and somatization.

Method: A consecutive sample of 134 CP treatment-seeking outpatients were evaluated for alexithymia (TAS-20), somatization (PHQ-15), distress (HADS), HRQL (SF-12), and pain (BPI).

Results: Patients with somatization (37.04%) reported significantly higher TAS-20 total scores ( < 0.001) and difficulty in identifying feelings (DIF) ( < 0.001) than those without somatization. The somatizer group had also a significantly higher disease duration, severity and interference of pain, distress, and lower HRQL than the non-somatizer group. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that although distress, pain interference and the mental HRQL component are closely related to somatization ( = 0.55), DIF was the strongest predictor of severity of somatization (β = 0.31). A sequential indirect effect from DIF to somatization via distress symptoms and pain interference turned out to be significant [95% CI (0.01, 0.09)]. Support was also found for sequential mediation paths from DIF to somatization via distress and mental HRQL [95% CI (0.01, 0.11)].

Conclusions: Our results pointed-out that alexithymia, particularly DIF, may be major factor for somatization risk in CP patients. Longitudinal observations are needed for evaluating the role of alexithymia in clinical outcomes.

Citing Articles

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Hybelius J, Kosic A, Salomonsson S, Wachtler C, Wallert J, Nordin S JAMA Netw Open. 2024; 7(11):e2446603.

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Somatosensory Amplification Scale-Chinese version: psychometric properties and its mediating role in the relationship between alexithymia and somatization.

Tan Y, An X, Cao M, Van den Bergh O Front Psychol. 2024; 15:1392351.

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