The Relationship Between Alexithymia and Depression in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Objectives: A number of psychiatric disorders emerge during the disease course in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Depression being the most reported disorder; up to date studies showed no clear relationship between alexithymia and depres-sion in these patients. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and depression in MS.Methods: 40 patients between ages 18 and 55 admitted to the Neurology Clinic in Okmeydani Training and Research Hospital who were diagnosed with Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS) according to 2010 Mc Donald’s cri-teria and 40 healthy volunteers participated in this study. All subjects had given written consent. Depression and alex-ithymia status were assessed with Beck Depression Scale (BDS) and Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) respectively.Results: BDS and TAS scores were found significantly higher in MS group especially in women compared to men (p