The relationship between life satisfaction and alexithymia was studied in a sample of 229 patients as a part of a naturalistic follow-up study of depression in Finnish primary health care. The measures were the abbreviated Life Satisfaction Scale and the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Depression was assessed by telephone with the short form of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Of all subjects, 19.2% were alexithymic, and 9.2% were depressed. Alexithymia was negatively associated with life satisfaction even when depression and other confounding factors were controlled for. Alexithymia is a risk factor for life dissatisfaction in primary-care patients.
In the early 1970s, Sifneos1 coined the term “alexithymia.” Alexithymia means “no words for feelings,” and it refers to a personality construct characterized by impoverishment of fantasy, poor capacity for symbolic thought, and an inability to experience and verbalize emotions. It is, by definition, considered a stable personality trait.1,2 Alexithymia has been shown to be associated with several medical conditions and mental health problems, including depression.2,3 The prevalence of alexithymia in working-age populations has been shown to be about 9%–17% for men and 5%–10% for women.4., 5., 6. and 7. At the population level, alexithymia is associated with older age, male sex, lower socioeconomic status, fewer years of education, single marital status, and poorer perceived health.4., 5., 6. and 7.
An association between alexithymia and dissatisfaction with life has been found in two Finnish population studies,6,8 two studies on coronary heart disease patients,9,10 and in a study of outpatients with depression.11 Le et al.12 conducted a cross-cultural study finding that life satisfaction was negatively correlated with alexithymia in American students. In a study on adjustment difficulties of expatriates, Fukunishi et al.13 found that alexithymia was associated with dissatisfaction with life abroad. In their study on emotional intelligence in a sample of general-community dwellers, Palmer et al.14 found that alexithymia correlated negatively with life satisfaction. However, in none of these studies was the main focus especially on alexithymia and life satisfaction, and no subjects were from a primary-care sample.
As far as we know, there are no studies on associations between alexithymia and life satisfaction in primary healthcare patients. We analyzed these associations as a part of a naturalistic follow-up study of depression in Finnish primary care. We hypothesized that life satisfaction and alexithymia were negatively related, independently of depression.
