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  • Title: Alexithymia and health-related quality of life in a general population.
    Author: Mattila AK, Saarni SI, Salminen JK, Huhtala H, Sintonen H, Joukamaa M.
    Journal: Psychosomatics; 2009; 50(1):59-68. PubMed ID: 19213974.
    Abstract:
    BACKGROUND: Alexithymia is thought to reflect a deficit in the cognitive processing of emotion, and, therefore, it may predispose individuals to both psychological and somatic symptoms. OBJECTIVE: The authors investigated the relationship between alexithymia and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a nationally representative population sample of 5,418 subjects, age 30 to 97 years. METHOD: Alexithymia was measured with the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and HRQoL measured with the 15D, a generic HRQoL measure. RESULTS: Alexithymia was significantly associated with lower HRQoL independently of other variables. The TAS-20 subfactor Difficulties Identifying Feelings was the strongest common denominator between alexithymia and HRQoL. CONCLUSION: Alexithymia may be a predisposing factor to poorer HRQoL.
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