The Relationship Between Alexithymia and Depression in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis
Ali Riza Sonkaya1, Elif Unal1, Canan Emir11Department of Neurology, Okmeydani Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
Objectives: A number of psychiatric disorders emerge during the disease course in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Depression being the most reported disorder; up to date studies showed no clear relationship between alexithymia and depression in these patients. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and depression in MS. Methods: 40 patients between ages 18 and 55 admitted to the Neurology Clinic in Okmeydani Training and Research Hospital who were diagnosed with Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS) according to 2010 Mc Donald’s criteria and 40 healthy volunteers participated in this study. All subjects had given written consent. Depression and alexithymia status were assessed with Beck Depression Scale (BDS) and Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) respectively. Results: BDS and TAS scores were found significantly higher in MS group especially in women compared to men (p<0.05). It was also observed that alexithymia levels showed increase with high EDSS scores and longer disease period (p<0.05). Conclusion: In this study, it was observed that depression and alexithymia were related with MS. Keywords: Alexithymia, depression, multiple sclerosis
Cite This Article
Sonkaya A, Unal E, Emir C. The Relationship Between Alexithymia and Depression in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis. EJMI. 2019; 3(2): 169-172
Corresponding Author: Ali Riza Sonkaya