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Alexithymia and suicidal behavior.

Kemal Sayar1, Burcin Acar, Ismail Ak

  • 1Karadeniz Technical University Medical School, Trabzon, Turkey. mkemalsayar@superonline.com

The Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences
|November 19, 2003
PubMed
Summary

Alexithymia, the inability to identify and express feelings, is not a predictor of suicidal behavior. Hopelessness and depression are more significant risk factors for suicide attempts.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychiatry
  • Psychology
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Hopelessness and alexithymia are potential risk factors for suicidal behavior.
  • Alexithymia is characterized by difficulty identifying and expressing emotions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the prevalence of alexithymia in suicide attempters.
  • To examine alexithymia as a predictor of suicidal behavior.
  • To compare suicide attempters with healthy controls on measures of hopelessness, alexithymia, depression, and suicidal ideation.

Main Methods:

  • A comparative study involving 100 suicide attempters and 60 healthy controls.
  • Psychometric measures included assessments for hopelessness, alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale), depression, and suicidal ideation.
  • Subgroup analyses were conducted within the suicide attempter group (e.g., first-time vs. repetitive attempters, gender, marital status).

Main Results:

  • Suicide attempters did not exhibit significantly higher alexithymia scores compared to healthy controls.
  • Alexithymia was not found to be a prevalent trait or sensitive predictor of suicidality.
  • Suicide attempters showed higher levels of depression, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation than controls.
  • Depression severity was a stronger predictor of suicidal intent than hopelessness.
  • Suicide attempt lethality did not correlate with any measured psychometric variables.

Conclusions:

  • Difficulty in identifying and articulating feelings (alexithymia) does not appear to be a significant risk factor for suicidal behavior.
  • Depression and hopelessness are more critical factors associated with suicidal intent and ideation.

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