Psicoterapia Jungiana para la somatización

Abstract

Few controlled treatment studies addressing the clinical course of alexithymia, as well as somatizing symptoms, have been conducted hitherto. The aim of this pilot study was to show that it is possible to engage patients with alexithymia and somatization into a therapeutic relationship although this has been noted as difficult in other studies. The study was carried out with a sample of patients (n = 10) in primary care outpatients scoring for alexithymia on a test measuring this variable. They all shared high scores on somatization and on both muscular tension and guilt on the Karolinska Scale of Personality. The patients were blindly divided into two groups (n = 5). Jungian psychotherapy was given to the treatment group for six months. The control group did not receive any psychotherapy but had contact as before with their GP. They did not know about other patients receiving therapy. The full consent to participate in two testing-sessions with six months in between were received from all ten patients. We predicted that the therapy group would show reductions in psychic anxiety, suspicion and indirect aggression, reflecting the establishment of a trusting transference-counter-transference relationship and hence an improved communication of feelings. We did not expect any radical changes in somatization or alexithymia during this short-term process, as these concepts have been seen as more rigid and complex parts of the patients personality. After six months the therapy group showed an overall effect in their personality with larger change than the non-therapy group in 14 of the 17 measured variables (p = 0.0064) which could be interpreted as them being able to engage within the therapy. We concluded that this treatment seems to be able to engage even these patients in a trusting therapeutic relationship. No definite conclusions about the value of psychotherapy for patients meeting the above criteria can be drawn from this study. Longer-term studies with larger patient number will be required to demonstrate the benefits of this form of psychotherapy on alexithymia and somatization.