title: The alexithymia, emotion regulation, emotion regulation difficulties, positive and negative affects, and suicidal risk in alcohol-dependent outpatients.
abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential contributing factors such as alexithymia, emotion regulation and difficulties in emotion regulation, positive/negative affects and clinical factors including severity of alcohol dependence and depression connected to high suicidality in alcohol-dependent outpatients. 205 alcohol-dependent outpatients and 100 normal controls completed the demographic questionnaire, the Persian version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (FTAS-20), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), the Positive/Negative Affect Scales, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), and the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). The suicidal risk was assessed using the Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI) and history taking. Alcohol-dependent outpatients showed higher means in alexithymia, difficulties in emotion regulation, suppression subscale, negative affect, and suicide ideation than normal controls. Logistic regression analysis revealed that negative affect, duration of alcohol use, externally-oriented thinking, and severity of alcohol dependence explained lifetime suicide attempts. Depression, impulsivity, severity of alcohol dependence, reappraisal (reversely), externally-oriented thinking, difficulties engaging in goal-directed behaviors, and negative affect significantly predicted the suicidal risk. The findings may constitute useful evidence of the relevancies of alexithymia, emotion regulation, emotion regulation difficulties, and affects to suicidality in alcoholic patients.
authors.affiliation: Toxicological Research Center, Department of Clinical Toxicology, Loghman-Hakim Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: fghorbani.5713@sbmu.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ghorbani
authors.affiliation: Psychosocial Injuries Research Centre, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran. Electronic address: vahid.psy@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Vahid
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Khosravani
authors.affiliation: Psychosocial Injuries Research Centre, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran. Electronic address: sharififarangis@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Farangis
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sharifi Bastan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Ardakan University, Ardakan, Yazd, Iran. Electronic address: jamaati@ardakan.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Razieh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jamaati Ardakani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000523:psychology*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Alcohol-dependent outpatients; Alexithymia; Difficulties in emotion regulation; Emotion regulation; Positive and negative affects; Suicidality