암환자들과 비암환자들 간의 Alexithymia의 비교

Comparison of Alexithymia between Cancer and Non-Cancer Patients

The object of the study is to elucidate the relationship between cancer and alexithymia. A comparison was made regarding the degree of alexithymia between cancer and non-cancer patients. Alexithymia was assessed by Alexithymia Provoked Response Questionnaire(APRQ) developed as a semi-structured interview form. The non-cancer patients were significantly greater in severity of psychic distress than the cancer patients. The result indicates that cancer patients are more likely to resist accepting their own psychic problems than non-cancer patients. The cancer patients tended to be more alexithymic than the non-cancer patients, although the difference is not statistically significant. In the cancer patients, severity of physical symptoms and of psychic distress were not correlated with degree of alexithymia, respectively. In the non-cancer patients, however, severity of psychic distress tended to correlate negatively with degree of alexithymia. In the cancer patients, psychiatric acceptance was not correlated with alexithymia, but in the non-cancer patients, psychiatric acceptance tended to correlate negatively with alexithymia. In the cancer patients, males tended to be more alexithymic than females and age tended to be correlated positively with the degree of alexithymia. Thus, it is suggeste that cance patients tendency to be more alexithymic in comparison to non-cancer patients might be related to their resistance against accepting their psychic problems. To clarify further the relationship between cancer and alexithymia, it will be necessary to make a comparison regarding alexithymia between cancer and non-cancer patients on the basis of the same organ