Suicidal ideation and alexithymia in patients with alcoholism: a pilot study

Suicidal incidences are known to be high in patients manifesting alcoholism. We attempted to characterize suicidal ideation in Japanese patients with alcoholism in relation to alexithymia.

Eighty-five male alcoholic patients, hospitalized in the alcoholics ward of a mental hospital and aged between 40 to 69 (52.9 +/- 8.3 years), and 79 nonalcoholic males in the same age range (54.9 +/- 7.1 years) recruited from a municipal garbage disposal plant were included in the study. The patients were evaluated using the Scale of Suicidal Ideation (SSI) and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) during 2002.

Of the alcoholic patients, 76.6% belonged to the high-risk group of suicidal ideation (SSI > 2), and 66.6% of the high-risk patients were alexithymic. In contrast, 86.1% of the nonalcoholic controls showed no suicidal ideation and only 17.7% of those without suicidal ideation were alexithymic. When the alcoholic patients with intensive suicidal ideation were compared with nonalcoholic patients without suicidal ideation, the scores of factor 1 and factor 2 were significantly higher in the former group (p < 0.001).

Alcoholic patients with intensive suicidal ideation accompanied with alexithymia are characterized by the inability to communicate feelings. Therefore, the possibility of a suicidal attempt in those patients should always be kept in mind even though no suicide message is expressed.