DEPENDENCE OF ALEXITHYMIA INTENSITY ON COMPONENTS OF PSYCHOSOCIAL ADAPTATION IN MEN WITH PSYCHOTROPIC SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS

Abstract

Introduction. Levels of alexithymia and psychosocial adaptation can influence on the treatment and rehabilitation of patients with substance use disorders. The investigation of the state of the adaptation system is often used to examine these patients, despite its complexity and multilevel character. It is still unclear what characteristics of psychosocial adaptation may indicate increasing level of alexithymia. Therefore the aim of this study is to investigate their association for future prediction of alexithymia level in men with substance use disorders. Methods. We examined 28 men who took the treatment at the detoxication therapy stage. We studied severity of alexithymia by Russian version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and analyzed peculiarities of psycho-social adaptation by C.R. Rogers and R.F. Dymond methods. To analyze the dependence between variances, multiple linear regression with Akaike information criteria and stepwise variable method was used. Results. The average level of alexithymia in the subjects was 57.6 ± 14.1 scores: it points out an elevated severity of the condition. The patients have “difficulty identifying feelings” at 18.9±6.6 scores, “difficulty describing feelings” at 13.7±4.9 scores and “externally oriented thinking” at 25.04±5.4 scores. The average levels of the subscales of the psychosocial adaptation questionnaire demonstrate no difference from normal values, but integral indices were increased. After stepwise variable method we selected the minimum set of factor characteristics associated with the original variable. Two factors related to the level of alexithymia were identified: internality and emotional comfort. The analysis shows the adequacy of the linear two-factor model for predicting the level of alexithymia in men with substance use disorders that based on values of internality and emotional comfort. Conclusion. We found that increased level of internality and emotional comfort in men with substance use disorders can predict an elevating level of alexithymia.