AB0563 ALEXITHYMIA IN PATIENTS WITH SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS

Abstract

BackgroundThe growth of psychosomatic disorders is the most important medical and social problem of modern healthcare. Particular attention of researchers is attracted by the alexithymic radical in the structure of the patient’s premorbid personality, as one of the possible psychological risk factors for the development of psychosomatic disorders. Alexithymia is a psychological phenomenon that described as difficulty in definition one’s own feelings, difficulty in distinguishing between feelings and bodily sensations, a decrease in the ability to symbolize, and a focus on external events rather than internal experiences.ObjectivesThe aim of this work was to study the level of alexithymia in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).MethodsThere were 87 patients under observation, the majority were women (82.8%), of 35.33 ± 1.77 years old in average. The average duration of the disease was 7.09 ± 0.89 years.The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) [1] was used to measure alexithymia.ResultsIt should be noted that in healthy people [1] the level of alexithymia is 59.3 ± 1.3 points. The mean value of alexithymia in SLE patients was 74.05 ± 2.62 points. The high and medium rates of alexithymia were established in 54 cases from 78 patients, and there were low levels in 24 cases indicating the absence of alexithymia. It was not possible to identify the dependence of alexithymia on gender and age. There was also no significant dependence of the level of alexithymia on the duration of the disease, the course and the activity of the pathological process. However, a significant direct correlation between the severity of alexithymia and depression and anxiety was revealed (see Table 1).Table 1.Dependence of the level of alexithymia on some characteristics of SLE patientsDisease courseDisease activityAge of patientsDisease durationAstheniaDepressionAnxietyHypochondriaTAS0.240.21-0.090.440.330.51*0.46*0.35* - p < 0.05Our data indicate that patients with SLE have a high level of alexithymia. Indeed, patients suffering from this disease experience difficulties in understanding and verbalizing feelings, persistently strive to draw the doctor’s attention to their physical sensations, without attaching importance to or denying trouble in the emotional sphere.ConclusionThe results of the study indicate a certain role of the phenomenon of alexithymia in the pathogenesis of psychosomatic disorders in SLE, and the level of alexithymia does not depend on gender, age, and the main clinical characteristics of the disease, but correlates with general neuroticism. It is possible that the high level of alexithymia in SLE patients leads to an increase in depression and anxiety, and generates psychological distress.Thus, the study of alexithymia, among other risk factors of a biological and psychosocial nature, is important for a better understanding of the role of psychological mechanisms in the pathogenesis of psychosomatic diseases, the organization of preventive measures aimed at correcting alexithymic features, carried out in individual and group forms of psychotherapy.