Correlation between deficit in affect regulation with physical and mental health

Introduction: Alexithymia is a disturbance in regulating affective states that is identified as three features; difficulty identifying feeling, difficulty describing feeling, and an sever poverty of abstract thinking. There is a relationship between deficit in affect regulation and development of physical and mental disorders. This study explores relationship between disturbance in regulating affective with development of digestive disease and mental symptom disorders. Material and Methods: A descriptive-analytical study was planned. Thirty patients with functional dyspeptic disease and 30 healthy subjects participated in the study. Both the patients and the control groups were asked to complete the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Symptom Check List-90(SCL-90). Two groups compared according to difficulty identifying feeling, difficulty describing feeling, abstract thinking, and symptoms of 9 mental disorders, somatization, interpersonal sensitiveness, obsessive-Compulsive disease, aggression, phobia, paranoia, depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia. Results: 28 persons in case group and 10 persons in control had disturbance in regulating affect. Mean scores of disturbance in regulating affect in functional dyspeptic patients significantly were more than healthy persons (62±6.8 VS 48±8.7). Risk relative to functional dyspeptic disease in patient with disturbance in regulating affect was 3.4 (OR=3.4, % 95 CI 1.9-5.9) more than non- alexythymic subjects. There was positive correlation %66 between alexithymia state and psychiatric symptoms (P<001). Risk relative to psychiatric disorders (depression, anxiety, phobia,…) in alexithymic patients was 2.4 ( OR=2.4, %95 CI 1.6-3.5) more than non- alexythymic subjects. Discussion and conclusions: Significant positive correlation between disturbance in affect regulation and development of digestive disorders or psychiatric symptoms was verified. This study suggests that educating of skills of emotional management with emphasis on identifying and describing feelings can be improved physical and mental health in society.