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Alexithymia in Chronic Pain Disorders

  • Chronic Pain (R Staud, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

This review proposes a critical discussion of the recent studies investigating the presence of alexithymia in patients suffering from different chronic pain (CP) conditions. The term CP refers to pain that persists or progresses over time, while alexithymia is an affective dysregulation, largely observed in psychosomatic diseases. Overall, the examined studies showed a high prevalence of alexithymia, especially difficulties in identifying feelings, in all the different CP conditions considered. However, the association between alexithymia and pain intensity was not always clear and in some studies this relationship appeared to be mediated by negative effect, especially depression. The role of alexithymia in CP should be clarified by future studies, paying particular attention to two aspects: the use of additional measures, in addition to the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, to assess alexithymia, and the analysis of the potential differences in the evolution of different CP conditions with reference to the presence or absence of alexithymia.

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Acknowledgments

Lorys Castelli was supported by University of Turin grants (“Ricerca scientifica finanziata dall’Università” Linea Giovani; http://www.unito.it) and CRT Foundation project “Componenti psicologiche e psicosomatiche nella sindrome fibromialgica”. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Po 14, 10123, Turin, Italy

    Marialaura Di Tella & Lorys Castelli

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  1. Marialaura Di Tella
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Correspondence to Lorys Castelli.

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With regard to the authors’ research cited in this paper, all procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. In addition, all applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

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Di Tella, M., Castelli, L. Alexithymia in Chronic Pain Disorders. Curr Rheumatol Rep 18, 41 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11926-016-0592-x

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