Marialaura Di Tella1, Ada Ghiggia2, Valentina Tesio1, Annunziata Romeo1, Fabrizio Colonna3, Enrico Fusaro3, Riccardo Torta4, Lorys Castelli1. 1. Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy. 2. Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy. Electronic address: ada.ghiggia@unito.it. 3. A.O.U. Città della Salute e della Scienza Hospital of Turin, Turin, Italy. 4. Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, Turin, Italy; A.O.U. Città della Salute e della Scienza Hospital of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain syndrome with a high prevalence of alexithymia, a personality disposition that affects emotional self-awareness. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and pain, differentiating between the sensory and affective components of pain experience, in a sample of FM patients. METHODS: One hundred and fifty-nine FM patients completed a battery of tests assessing pain experience, pain intensity, alexithymia and psychological distress. In order to characterize the clinical profile of alexithymic FM patients, alexithymic and non-alexithymic groups were compared on the different measures. Two regression analyses were performed on the total sample, in order to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and pain, controlling for psychological distress. RESULTS: Alexithymic FM patients presented higher scores on all the clinical measures compared to non-alexithymic ones. Positive correlations were found between alexithymia and the affective, but not the sensory, dimension of pain experience variables. Regression analyses showed that alexithymia (difficulty identifying feelings factor) ceased to uniquely predict affective pain, after controlling for psychological distress, particularly anxiety. In addition, none of the alexithymia variables significantly explained pain intensity variance. Finally, a significant effect of anxiety in mediating the relationship between alexithymia and affective pain was found. LIMITATIONS: No longitudinal data were included. CONCLUSIONS: These findings show the presence of higher levels of pain and psychological distress in alexithymic vs. non-alexithymic FM patients, and a relevant association between alexithymia and the affective dimension of pain experience. Specifically, this relationship appears to be significantly mediated by anxiety.
BACKGROUND:Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain syndrome with a high prevalence of alexithymia, a personality disposition that affects emotional self-awareness. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and pain, differentiating between the sensory and affective components of pain experience, in a sample of FM patients. METHODS: One hundred and fifty-nine FM patients completed a battery of tests assessing pain experience, pain intensity, alexithymia and psychological distress. In order to characterize the clinical profile of alexithymic FM patients, alexithymic and non-alexithymic groups were compared on the different measures. Two regression analyses were performed on the total sample, in order to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and pain, controlling for psychological distress. RESULTS: Alexithymic FM patients presented higher scores on all the clinical measures compared to non-alexithymic ones. Positive correlations were found between alexithymia and the affective, but not the sensory, dimension of pain experience variables. Regression analyses showed that alexithymia (difficulty identifying feelings factor) ceased to uniquely predict affective pain, after controlling for psychological distress, particularly anxiety. In addition, none of the alexithymia variables significantly explained pain intensity variance. Finally, a significant effect of anxiety in mediating the relationship between alexithymia and affective pain was found. LIMITATIONS: No longitudinal data were included. CONCLUSIONS: These findings show the presence of higher levels of pain and psychological distress in alexithymic vs. non-alexithymic FM patients, and a relevant association between alexithymia and the affective dimension of pain experience. Specifically, this relationship appears to be significantly mediated by anxiety.
Authors: Lliure-Naima Mory; Daniel de Oliveira Fernandes; Christian Mancini; Michael Mouthon; Joelle Nsimire Chabwine Journal: J Clin Med Date: 2022-06-08 Impact factor: 4.964
Authors: Ciro Conversano; Laura Marchi; Ciacchini Rebecca; Claudia Carmassi; Bastianina Contena; Laura Maria Bazzichi; Angelo Gemignani Journal: Clin Pract Epidemiol Ment Health Date: 2018-09-28