Correlation of Alexithymia with Grief and Depression Symptom Severity in Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder.

This study aimed to compare the depression and grief levels between patients with persistent complex bereavement disorder who have alexithymia and those who do not have alexithymia. This study also aimed to examine the correlations between these variables. A total of 80 patients with persistent complex bereavement disorders were included and divided into two groups: alexithymia (n = 45) and nonalexithymia (n = 35). Each patient was evaluated using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, the Inventory of Complicated Grief and the Beck Depression Inventory. Individuals with alexithymia who have symptoms of complicated grief may experience more severe depression and grief than patients without alexithymia. Among individuals with alexithymia, the difficulty identifying feelings dimension may be a predictor of complicated grief, and the externally oriented thinking dimension appears to be significant in terms of masking depressive symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]