Alexithymia in adolescents with and without chronic pain.
Rachel V Aaron, Emma A Fisher, Tonya M Palermo
PMID 31393153WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents with chronic pain reported greater difficulty identifying feelings than healthy peers, even when depressive and anxiety symptoms were similar.
This difficulty was linked to more pain bothersomeness and interference with usual activities, not pain intensity.
Key findings
01Adolescents with chronic pain had higher total alexithymia scores and higher difficulty identifying feelings than adolescents without chronic pain.
02The group difference in difficulty identifying feelings remained after controlling for depressive and anxiety symptoms.
03Among adolescents with chronic pain, greater difficulty identifying feelings was associated with greater pain bothersomeness and pain interference.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study was a pilot with 44 adolescents and was not powered for these analyses, so it could reliably detect large effects only. The design was cross-sectional and based on self-report, so it cannot show that alexithymia causes pain or pain interference. The alexithymia measure was developed mostly for adults, and the externally oriented thinking subscale had lower reliability. The chronic pain sample was too small to examine differences by specific pain condition. The sample was mostly Caucasian and middle to upper class, so findings may not apply broadly. Self-report could be affected by social desirability or mood.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that improving emotion identification will reduce pain or interference. This was a small pilot questionnaire study, not a treatment trial, and it did not test any therapy.