A prospective study of alexithymia in obsessive-compulsive patients treated with multimodal cognitive-behavioral therapy.
BACKGROUND
Alexithymia as a predictor of treatment outcome in psychotherapy has often been discussed but rarely evaluated in prospective studies. The present study evaluated the absolute and relative stability of alexithymia in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and the predictive value of alexithymia for the outcome of treatment.


METHODS
We conducted a prospective study with 42 inpatients receiving intensive, multimodal cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Patients were assessed for alexithymia at pre- and post-treatment with the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), for obsessive-compulsive symptoms and depression with the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) and the 21-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS).


RESULTS
OCD and comorbid depression showed a highly significant symptom-reduction from pre- to post-treatment while no absolute changes in the TAS-20 total scores and its factors 1 and 3 occurred. Only factor 2 scores decreased significantly, but with a smaller effect size than the effect sizes for the changes in Y-BOCS and HDRS. Alexithymia scores at pre-treatment correlated significantly with alexithymia scores at the end of treatment, indicating its relative stability. In the linear regression analyses, no variables were identified that predicted significantly the outcome of treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings support the view that alexithymia is a stable personality trait rather than a state-dependent phenomenon in obsessive-compulsive patients. Alexithymia scores do not predict response to multimodal CBT in OCD. It might be an effect of CBT that patients could at least partly regain or newly learn the capability to describe their feelings.
Rufer
Michael
M
University Hospital of Hamburg, Centre of Psychosocial Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hamburg, Germany. rufer@uke.uni-hamburg.de
Hand
Iver
I
Braatz
Anne
A
Alsleben
Heike
H
Fricke
Susanne
S
Peter
Helmut
H
D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D015897:Comorbidity; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome