Alexithymia in infertile women.
OBJECTIVE
Alexithymia was compared in women with fertility disorders and fertile women who have never been confronted with fertility problems.


METHODS
Self-report instruments (TAS-20 and BVAQ) were used to measure alexithymia in a group of 73 infertile women and in a comparison group of 32 fertile women. Semi-structured interviews were used to assess medical history, current and lifetime diagnosis of psychiatric disorders.


RESULTS
Infertile women showed significantly higher rates of alexithymia than fertile women. The degree of alexithymia does not constitute a discriminating variable between unexplained infertile women and women with an organic aetiology of infertility. The prevalence of psychiatric diagnosis did not differ between the two groups of patients. Lifetime prevalence of depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder were statistically comparable.


CONCLUSIONS
This result raises the question of secondary alexithymia as a coping strategy in women with fertility troubles. Given the lack of published data on alexithymia in infertile women, there is a need to replicate our results and evaluate other aspects of affect regulation in infertile patients.
Lamas
Claire
C
Département de psychiatrie, Unité de recherche, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, 42 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris, France. claire.lamas@wanadoo.fr
Chambry
Jean
J
Nicolas
Isabelle
I
Frydman
René
R
Jeammet
Philippe
P
Corcos
Maurice
M
D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires