2026-04-18T04:22:11Zhttps://recercat.cat/oai/request

oai:recercat.cat:11351/60752025-10-01T01:27:10Zcom_2072_378071com_2072_378040col_2072_378097

Alexithymia in Patients With Substance Use Disorders and Its Relationship With Psychiatric Comorbidities and Health-Related Quality of Life Palma Alvarez, Raul Felipe Ros Cucurull, Elena Daigre Blanco, Constanza Perea Ortueta, Marta Serrano Pérez, Pedro Martinez Luna, Nieves Gudelia Salas Martinez, Anna Grau Lopez, Lara Ramos-Quiroga, Josep Antoni Alexitímia Diagnòstic dual PSYCHIATRY AND PSYCHOLOGY::Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms::Behavior::Behavioral Symptoms::Affective Symptoms DISEASES::Chemically-Induced Disorders::Substance-Related Disorders Other subheadings::Other subheadings::Other subheadings::/complications PSIQUIATRÍA Y PSICOLOGÍA::conducta y mecanismos de la conducta::conducta::síntomas conductuales::síntomas afectivos ENFERMEDADES::trastornos inducidos químicamente::trastornos relacionados con sustancias Otros calificadores::Otros calificadores::Otros calificadores::/complicaciones Alexitimia; Qualitat de vida relacionada amb la salut; Trastorn per consum de substàncies Alexitimia; Calidad de vida relacionada con la salud; Trastorno por uso de sustancias Alexithymia; Health-related quality of life; Substance use disorder Background: Alexithymia frequently correlates with several psychiatric disorders, including substance use disorder (SUD). However, most studies reporting the associations between alexithymia and psychiatric disorders have been performed in populations without SUD. This research, therefore, evaluates alexithymia in Spanish patients with SUD and the relationship among alexithymia, psychiatric comorbidities, psychological symptoms/traits, SUD variables, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 126 Spanish outpatients with SUD (75.4% males; mean age 43.72 ± 14.61 years), correlating their alexithymia levels (using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale 20 [TAS-20]) to their psychiatric comorbidities, psychological symptoms/traits, SUD variables, and HRQoL. Results: Alexithymia was significantly higher in patients who had cannabis use disorder. Higher alexithymia scores were also related to higher levels of depression, anxiety, impulsivity, and lower HRQoL. After multivariate analysis, trait anxiety, impulsivity, and the physical component summary of the HRQoL were found to be independently related to alexithymia. Conclusions: SUD patients with higher alexithymia levels have more frequently psychiatric comorbidities, present specific psychological features, and have worse HRQoL. Hence, it is important to evaluate these factors and offer more accurate psychotherapeutic approaches for this patient population. 2021-06-15T12:34:35Z 2021-06-15T12:34:35Z 2021-04-09 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Frontiers in Psychiatry;12 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.659063/full Attribution 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Frontiers Media Scientia