Prevalence and characteristics of alexithymia in Parkinson's disease

Psychosomatics
Alberto CostaCarlo Caltagirone

Abstract

Alexithymia, a reduction in the tendency to think about emotions, together with a difficulty in identifying and describing feelings, has been characterized as a personality trait, but may be secondary to other pathological conditions. The authors aimed at investigating alexithymia in Parkinson's disease (PD). Seventy PD patients and 70 control subjects were administered the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale. The authors found that 21.4% of PD patients and 10.0% of controls could be classified as alexithymic. PD patients and controls significantly differed on global levels of alexithymia. However, univariate analyses showed that PD patients differed significantly only on the subscale investigating difficulty describing and communicating feelings. These results indicate that some facets of alexithymia are a relevant feature of PD, possibly in relation to the neuropathological changes that characterize the disease.

Citations

Dec 29, 2010·Journal of Neurology·Michele PolettiUbaldo Bonuccelli
Jan 6, 2012·The Neurologist·Oscar Bernal-PachecoHubert H Fernandez
Apr 17, 2014·Brain : a Journal of Neurology·Leigh ChristopherAntonio P Strafella
May 7, 2011·Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics·Michele PolettiUbaldo Bonuccelli
Sep 15, 2015·Journal of the Neurological Sciences·Lucia RicciardiAlfonso Fasano
May 28, 2016·Neurodegenerative Disease Management·Alberto Costa, Carlo Caltagirone
Oct 15, 2013·Movement Disorders : Official Journal of the Movement Disorder Society·Katharina S Goerlich-DobreThilo van Eimeren
Oct 28, 2017·Scientific Reports·Cinzia CecchettoMarilena Aiello
Oct 19, 2017·Neurological Sciences : Official Journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology·Luigi Trojano, Costanza Papagno

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