Sleep Med Psychophysiol.  2002 Jun;9(1):56-60.

Alexithymia in Patients with Tension-Type Headache

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Neuropsychiatry, Korea University, College of Medicine, Seoul.

Abstract


OBJECTIVES
Various psychological factors influence the occurrence of tension-type headahes. The aim of this study is to compare the level of alexithymia between tension-type headache patients and normal controls.
METHODS
Sixty-six subjects with tension-type headaches and 59 controls were studied. The Beck Depression Inventory and Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20K) were administered to the tension-type headache group and TAS-20K to the normal control group.
RESULTS
Compared with normal controls, the tension-type headache group had significantly higher alexithymia scores. There was also significant association between the level of alexithymia and the severity of the depression on tension-type headache patients.
CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that patients with tension-type headaches have difficulty in expressing their emotions. And in patients with tension-type teadaches, the more alexithymic they are, the more depressive.

Keyword

Tension-type headache; Alexithymia; Depression

MeSH Terms

Affective Symptoms*
Depression
Humans
Psychology
Tension-Type Headache*
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