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Alexithymia in Substance Abusers
Author(s) -
Pinard Louis,
Negrete Juan Carlos,
Annable Lawrence.,
Audet Nathalie.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
the american journal on addictions
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.997
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-0391
pISSN - 1055-0496
DOI - 10.1111/j.1521-0391.1996.tb00281.x
Subject(s) - alexithymia , toronto alexithymia scale , abstinence , psychology , clinical psychology , population , substance abuse , trait , addiction , psychiatry , medicine , environmental health , computer science , programming language
The authors investigated the effects of detoxification on alexithymia scores in a sample of psychoactive substance‐dependent patients. At baseline, 48 subjects were administered the 20‐item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS–20); a second measurement was carried out 4–6 weeks later. The mean TAS–20 total score of these subjects at baseline (55.5 ± 12.0) was higher than healthy population norms (46.5 ± 10.3), and no significant change in totals was elicited after detoxification. The results suggest that, in substance abusers, alexithymia tends to be a stable trait and is not significantly altered as a result of abstinence.