title: Alexithymia as a predictor of outcome of psychodynamically oriented inpatient treatment.
abstract: This naturalistic study aimed to determine whether the initial degree of alexithymia can predict treatment outcome of psychodynamically oriented multimodal therapy. The Toronto Alexithymia Scale-26, the Global Severity Index (GSI), and the Depression subscale of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised were administered at hospital admission and at discharge to 480 inpatients with various psychological disorders. GSI and depressive symptoms decreased significantly during treatment. High initial alexithymia total scores significantly predicted treatment outcome, especially in patients with somatoform disorders. Difficulties in verbalizing feelings had the strongest association with less favourable symptom improvement. Although significant, the predictive values were relatively small, and patients with alexithymia indeed benefited from therapy. Implications of these results are discussed for the specificity of disorders and therapeutic approach.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany. Frank.Leweke@psycho.med.uni-giessen.de
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Leweke
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bausch
authors.forename: Falk
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Leichsenring
authors.forename: Bertram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stingl
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires