TY - JOUR
T1 - Alexithymia and Cutaneous Disease Morbidity
T2 - A Systematic Review
AU - Holmes, Alexis
AU - Marella, Pooja
AU - Rodriguez, Carlos
AU - Glass,, Donald
AU - Goerlich, Katharina S.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 S. Karger AG, Basel. Copyright: All rights reserved.
PY - 2022/11/1
Y1 - 2022/11/1
N2 - Background: Alexithymia is a psychological construct that describes one's difficulty in understanding and describing their own emotions as well as differentiating feelings from bodily signals of arousal. In the general population, alexithymia's prevalence is approximately 10%. Alexithymia may act as a triggering factor for many medical and psychiatric disorders. In patients with physical disease, alexithymia's prevalence reaches up to 63%. Additionally, alexithymia is associated with worse outcomes and heightened psychosocial comorbidities. Objective: This review continues where an earlier review (Willemsen, 2008) left off to (1) clarify alexithymia's prevalence in dermatology patients and (2) further investigate alexithymia's impact on disease burden, psychosocial comorbidities, and treatment. Methods: Systematic searches on alexithymia and dermatologic conditions were conducted using PubMed, Embase, PsycInfo, and Web of Science databases from March 8, 2021, to March 12, 2021. Data from eligible publications, which were full-text, clinical studies published after September 1, 2008, and available in English, were extracted by two medical students and summarized. Results: Despite a small number of publications (n = 37), data showed a markedly greater prevalence and severity of alexithymia in patients with alopecia, vitiligo, psoriasis, hidradenitis suppurativa, atopic dermatitis, chronic idiopathic urticaria, and primary focal hyperhidrosis compared to healthy controls. Further, data consistently demonstrate a complex interplay between alexithymia, disease burden, and psychosocial comorbidity. Conclusions: Identifying and addressing alexithymia in dermatology patients may improve treatment outcomes, associated comorbidities, and health-related quality of life.
AB - Background: Alexithymia is a psychological construct that describes one's difficulty in understanding and describing their own emotions as well as differentiating feelings from bodily signals of arousal. In the general population, alexithymia's prevalence is approximately 10%. Alexithymia may act as a triggering factor for many medical and psychiatric disorders. In patients with physical disease, alexithymia's prevalence reaches up to 63%. Additionally, alexithymia is associated with worse outcomes and heightened psychosocial comorbidities. Objective: This review continues where an earlier review (Willemsen, 2008) left off to (1) clarify alexithymia's prevalence in dermatology patients and (2) further investigate alexithymia's impact on disease burden, psychosocial comorbidities, and treatment. Methods: Systematic searches on alexithymia and dermatologic conditions were conducted using PubMed, Embase, PsycInfo, and Web of Science databases from March 8, 2021, to March 12, 2021. Data from eligible publications, which were full-text, clinical studies published after September 1, 2008, and available in English, were extracted by two medical students and summarized. Results: Despite a small number of publications (n = 37), data showed a markedly greater prevalence and severity of alexithymia in patients with alopecia, vitiligo, psoriasis, hidradenitis suppurativa, atopic dermatitis, chronic idiopathic urticaria, and primary focal hyperhidrosis compared to healthy controls. Further, data consistently demonstrate a complex interplay between alexithymia, disease burden, and psychosocial comorbidity. Conclusions: Identifying and addressing alexithymia in dermatology patients may improve treatment outcomes, associated comorbidities, and health-related quality of life.
KW - Alexithymia
KW - Emotional deficit
KW - Psychocutaneous medicine
KW - Psychodermatology
KW - Quality of life
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U2 - 10.1159/000524736
DO - 10.1159/000524736
M3 - Review article
C2 - 35636409
AN - SCOPUS:85131318763
SN - 1018-8665
VL - 238
SP - 1120
EP - 1129
JO - Dermatology
JF - Dermatology
IS - 6
ER -