Biomaterial Database

Alexithymia and somatic amplification in chronic pain. 1998

A Kosturek, and R J Gregory, and A J Sousou, and P Trief

Department of Psychiatry, State University of New York (SUNY) Health Science Center, Syracuse 13210, USA.

A controlled study was undertaken to assess alexithymia and somatic amplification among 50 medical outpatients with chronic pain referred for psychiatric consultation. Data were collected on demographics; DSM-IV diagnoses; and measures of anxiety, depression, and alexithymia, assessed with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), as well as somatic amplification, assessed with the Somatosensory Amplification Scale (SAS). Data analysis revealed low scores on the TAS-20 and SAS for the pain patients, compared with a control group without pain. In this sample, depression and anxiety were the primary determinants of alexithymia and somatic amplification, rather than pain. These findings suggest that psychological markers for chronic pain may be different from those for other somatoform disorders.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D010146	Pain	An unpleasant sensation induced by noxious stimuli which are detected by NERVE ENDINGS of NOCICEPTIVE NEURONS.	Suffering, Physical,Ache,Pain, Burning,Pain, Crushing,Pain, Migratory,Pain, Radiating,Pain, Splitting,Aches,Burning Pain,Burning Pains,Crushing Pain,Crushing Pains,Migratory Pain,Migratory Pains,Pains, Burning,Pains, Crushing,Pains, Migratory,Pains, Radiating,Pains, Splitting,Physical Suffering,Physical Sufferings,Radiating Pain,Radiating Pains,Splitting Pain,Splitting Pains,Sufferings, Physical
D010555	Personality Inventory	Check list, usually to be filled out by a person about himself, consisting of many statements about personal characteristics which the subject checks.	Edwards Personal Preference Schedule,Myers-Briggs Type Indicator,Indicator, Myers-Briggs Type,Inventories, Personality,Inventory, Personality,Myers Briggs Type Indicator,Personality Inventories
D011594	Psychometrics	Assessment of psychological variables by the application of mathematical procedures.	Psychometric
D002908	Chronic Disease	Diseases which have one or more of the following characteristics: they are permanent, leave residual disability, are caused by nonreversible pathological alteration, require special training of the patient for rehabilitation, or may be expected to require a long period of supervision, observation, or care (Dictionary of Health Services Management, 2d ed). For epidemiological studies chronic disease often includes HEART DISEASES; STROKE; CANCER; and diabetes (DIABETES MELLITUS, TYPE 2).	Chronic Condition,Chronic Illness,Chronically Ill,Chronic Conditions,Chronic Diseases,Chronic Illnesses,Condition, Chronic,Disease, Chronic,Illness, Chronic
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000342	Affective Symptoms	Mood or emotional responses dissonant with or inappropriate to the behavior and/or stimulus.	Alexithymia,Emotional Disturbances,Affective Symptom,Alexithymias,Disturbance, Emotional,Disturbances, Emotional,Emotional Disturbance,Symptom, Affective,Symptoms, Affective
D000704	Analysis of Variance	A statistical technique that isolates and assesses the contributions of categorical independent variables to variation in the mean of a continuous dependent variable.	ANOVA,Analysis, Variance,Variance Analysis,Analyses, Variance,Variance Analyses
D012189	Retrospective Studies	Studies used to test etiologic hypotheses in which inferences about an exposure to putative causal factors are derived from data relating to characteristics of persons under study or to events or experiences in their past. The essential feature is that some of the persons under study have the disease or outcome of interest and their characteristics are compared with those of unaffected persons.	Retrospective Study,Studies, Retrospective,Study, Retrospective