The alexithymia, cognitive emotion regulation, and physical symptoms in Iranian asthmatic patients

Abstract

The aims of this study were to evaluate alexithymia subscales and cognitive emotion regulation strategies (CERS) of asthmatic patients and to clarify the relations of alexithymia subscales and cognitive emotion regulation strategies (CERS) to physical symptoms (PS) and other clinical variables. 300 patients with asthma and 100 normal controls completed the Demographic Questionnaire, Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), Persian version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (FTAS-20), and Powell and Enright Physical Symptoms Inventory (PSI). Asthmatic patients had significantly higher scores on all three alexithymia subscales including difficulty in identifying feelings (DIF), difficulty in describing feelings (DDF), and externally oriented thinking (EOT) and non-adaptive CERS than normal controls. Asthmatic patients with alexithymia showed higher scores on asthma severity, non-adaptive CERS, and PS. The partial correlation revealed that PS was significantly correlated with DIF, DDF, EOT, and non-adaptive CERS. DIF, EOT, and non-adaptive CERS were significant predictors of PS. It is concluded that alexithymia subscales and non-adaptive CERS were related to PS.