title: Alexithymia in patients with substance use disorders: state or trait?
abstract: Previous research on substance use disorders (SUD) has yielded conflicting results concerning whether alexithymia is a state or trait, raising the question of how alexithymia should be addressed in the treatment of SUD-patients. The absolute and relative stabilities of alexithymia were assessed using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and its subscales. In total, 101 patients with SUD were assessed twice during a 3-week inpatient detoxification period while controlling for withdrawal symptoms and personality disorder traits. The relative stability of the total TAS-20 and subscales was moderate to high but showed remarkable differences between baseline low, moderate, and high alexithymic patients. A small reduction in the mean levels of the total TAS-20 scores and those of one subscale revealed the absence of absolute stability. The levels of alexithymia were unrelated to changes in withdrawal symptoms, including anxiety- and depression-like symptoms. The differences between low, moderate, and high alexithymic patients in terms of the change in alexithymia scores between baseline and follow-up indicated a strong regression to the mean. The findings suggest that alexithymia in SUD patients as measured using the TAS-20 is both a state and trait phenomenon and does not appear to be related to changes in anxiety- and depression-like symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Tactus Addiction Treatment, 7400 AD Deventer, The Netherlands; Nijmegen Institute for Scientist-Practitioners in Addiction, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: h.dehaan@tactus.nl.
authors.forename: Hein A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: de Haan
authors.affiliation: Department of Research Methodology, Measurement and Data Analysis, University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands; Medical School Twente, Medisch Spectrum Twente, 7513 ER Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Job
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van der Palen
authors.affiliation: Nijmegen Institute for Scientist-Practitioners in Addiction, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Toon G M
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Wijdeveld
authors.affiliation: Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jan K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Buitelaar
authors.affiliation: Nijmegen Institute for Scientist-Practitioners in Addiction, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Cor A J
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: De Jong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D011581:Psychological Tests; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000523:psychology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy
keywords: Absolute stability; Alexithymia; Relative stability; Substance use disorder