Alexithymia in the medically ill. Analysis of 1190 patients in gastroenterology, cardiology, oncology and dermatology

The results indicate that DCPR alexithymia is associated with a comorbid mood or anxiety disorder in about one third of cases; it is related to various forms of somatization and abnormal illness behavior in another third and may occur without psychiatric comorbidity in another subgroup. Identification of alexithymic features may entail major prognostic and therapeutic differences among medical patients who otherwise seem to be deceptively similar since they share the same psychiatric and/or medical diagnosis.