Verbal expression of affect in rheumatoid arthritis patients. A blind, controlled test for alexithymia

The claim that alexithymia is associated with specific disease categories is subjected to empirical testing. We report results from a controlled, single blind study in which Thematic Aperception Test (TAT) protocols from 64 arthritis patients attending an outpatient clinic were examined for operationally defined characteristics of alexithymia. We studied two groups of rheumatoid arthritis patients, one with the combination of rheumatoid factor and erosive joint changes and the other without and a third group with other forms of arthritis. Controlling for all variables that may confound alexithymia, we were unable to find any relationship between alexithymia and diagnostic subgroup, duration of illness or functional impairment.