TY - JOUR
T1 - Relationship between somatosensory amplification and alexithymia in a Japanese psychosomatic clinic
AU - Nakao, Mutsuhiro
AU - Barsky, Arthur J.
AU - Kumano, Hiroaki
AU - Kuboki, Tomifusa
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank the staff at the Departments of Psychosomatic Medicine and Internal Medicine, the Hospital of the University of Tokyo, for their help in data collection. This study was partly supported by the Okinaga Harvard Fellowship , organized by the Teikyo University in Japan .
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - To examine the relationship between somatosensory amplification and three factors of alexithymia (difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally oriented thinking), 48 outpatients attending a Japanese psychosomatic clinic and 33 comparative outpatients completed the Somatosensory Amplification Scale (SSAS), 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Profile of Mood States (POMS), and other self-rating questionnaires. The scores on the SSAS and the first and second TAS-20 factors were higher (all P < 0.001) in the psychosomatic group than in the comparison group. The SSAS was positively associated (both P < 0.01) with these two TAS-20 factors, controlling for the effects of age, sex, group, and POMS tensionanxiety and depression. Somatosensory amplification appears to be associated with difficulties identifying and describing feelings, not externally oriented thinking, in Japanese patients.
AB - To examine the relationship between somatosensory amplification and three factors of alexithymia (difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally oriented thinking), 48 outpatients attending a Japanese psychosomatic clinic and 33 comparative outpatients completed the Somatosensory Amplification Scale (SSAS), 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Profile of Mood States (POMS), and other self-rating questionnaires. The scores on the SSAS and the first and second TAS-20 factors were higher (all P < 0.001) in the psychosomatic group than in the comparison group. The SSAS was positively associated (both P < 0.01) with these two TAS-20 factors, controlling for the effects of age, sex, group, and POMS tensionanxiety and depression. Somatosensory amplification appears to be associated with difficulties identifying and describing feelings, not externally oriented thinking, in Japanese patients.
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U2 - 10.1176/appi.psy.43.1.55
DO - 10.1176/appi.psy.43.1.55
M3 - Article
C2 - 11927759
AN - SCOPUS:0036191175
SN - 0033-3182
VL - 43
SP - 55
EP - 60
JO - Psychosomatics
JF - Psychosomatics
IS - 1
ER -
