Abstract

VAZQUEZ-GUTIERREZ, Aidé; RODRIGUEZ-MEDINA, David Alberto; RANGEL-DOMINGUEZ, Nancy Elizabeth  and  SANCHEZ-SOSA, Juan José. Alexithymia in patients with oncological and non-oncological chronic pain: A comparative study. Psicumex [online]. 2022, vol.12, e431.  Epub Jan 13, 2023. ISSN 2007-5936.  https://doi.org/10.36793/psicumex.v12i1.431.

Alexithymia is characterized by a difficulty in identifying and describing emotions. The primary objective of the present study was to compare the alexithymia score in patients with chronic pain and people from the general population. Through a prospective, non-experimental, cross-sectional study, 165 patients were evaluated, comprising four groups: the first group had 32 patients diagnosed with FMS; the second group, made up of 61 patients with chronic pain other than FMS; the third group consisted of 19 women with cancer pain (breast cancer); while the fourth group was made up of 53 participants the general population. To assess the level of alexithymia, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-10) was used. The results suggest that the presence of chronic pain (oncological and non-oncological) has a significantly higher alexithymia score compared to the group free of chronic pain (p <0.001). Additionally, a negative association was found between the educational level of the participants and their alexithymia score, presenting a higher alexithymia score in people with low education. Results suggest the importance of considering the presence of alexithymia in patients with chronic pain for their subsequent psychosocial intervention.

Keywords : alexithymia; chronic pain; educational; FMS; chronic pain oncological.

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