Loading...
Publication
Alexitimia e psicopatologia : Estudo exploratório em alunos de Psicologia
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
O interesse pela investigação sobre o conceito da alexitimia tem vindo a crescer
não só devido ao interesse na área da expressão emocional na psicopatologia, mas
também devido ao facto de esta ser um possível factor de risco para o desenvolvimento
de várias perturbações psiquiátricas e somáticas. Com este aumento da investigação
sobre a alexitimia surgiram variadas teorias explicativas do fenómeno e da sua origem,
contudo, uma base conceptual e factual emerge de todas elas, onde a alexitimia
apresenta três características fundamentais, a dificuldade em identificar sentimentos e
em distingui-los das sensações corporais, a dificuldade em descrever sentimentos para
os outros e um processo imaginativo limitado com um estilo de pensamento concreto e
orientado para o exterior.
Assim, procurou-se investigar as possíveis relações entre a alexitimia e a
psicopatologia, numa amostra de 178 alunos de psicologia do ISPA, sendo 91 do 1º ano
e 87 do 5º ano do Mestrado Integrado em Psicologia Clínica. Para tal foram aplicados,
em grupo nas várias turmas, a Toronto Alexithymia Scale – 20 (TAS – 20) e o Symptom
Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R). Foram realizadas modelos estatísticos de regressão linear
múltipla e de comparação de médias, que indicam não existirem diferenças
significativas de género na alexitimia e que quanto maior for a intensidade da
perturbação percepcionada maior será a alexitimia. Os resultados obtidos apontam ainda
para uma relação significativa da alexitimia com a sintomatologia obsessiva-compulsiva
e psicótica. As implicações teóricas destes resultados e outras questões para
investigação são discutidas.
ABSTRACT: The interest about the investigation about the concept of alexithymia has been growing not only due to the interest on the area of emotional expression in psychopathology, but also due to the fact that alexithymia can be a possible risk factor on the development of diverse psychiatric and somatic disturbs. With this growth on the investigation about alexithymia a large number of explicative theories of the phenomenon and its origin came to us, however, there is a conceptual and factual basis that emerges from all of them, in which the alexithymia presents three main features, the difficulty identifying feelings and distinguishing them from emotionally driven somatic sensations, the difficulty describing feelings to others and a constricted imaginal process in a concrete, externally oriented style of thinking. Therefore, we looked forward to search possible relations between alexithymia and psychopathology, on a sample of 178 students of psychology in ISPA, 91 of the first year and 87 of the fifth year of the Integrative Clinical Psychology Master Degree. For that it were applied, in group on several classes, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale – 20 (TAS – 20) and the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R). Statistical models of multiple linear regression and mean comparation tests were done, which indicated that there’s no significative differences between gender in alexithymia and that the larger the disturb intensity perception is the higher alexithymia will be. The obtained results also point out a significative relation between alexithymia and obsessive-compulsive and psychotic symptoms. The theoretical implications of these findings as well as other issues to investigation are discussed.
ABSTRACT: The interest about the investigation about the concept of alexithymia has been growing not only due to the interest on the area of emotional expression in psychopathology, but also due to the fact that alexithymia can be a possible risk factor on the development of diverse psychiatric and somatic disturbs. With this growth on the investigation about alexithymia a large number of explicative theories of the phenomenon and its origin came to us, however, there is a conceptual and factual basis that emerges from all of them, in which the alexithymia presents three main features, the difficulty identifying feelings and distinguishing them from emotionally driven somatic sensations, the difficulty describing feelings to others and a constricted imaginal process in a concrete, externally oriented style of thinking. Therefore, we looked forward to search possible relations between alexithymia and psychopathology, on a sample of 178 students of psychology in ISPA, 91 of the first year and 87 of the fifth year of the Integrative Clinical Psychology Master Degree. For that it were applied, in group on several classes, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale – 20 (TAS – 20) and the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R). Statistical models of multiple linear regression and mean comparation tests were done, which indicated that there’s no significative differences between gender in alexithymia and that the larger the disturb intensity perception is the higher alexithymia will be. The obtained results also point out a significative relation between alexithymia and obsessive-compulsive and psychotic symptoms. The theoretical implications of these findings as well as other issues to investigation are discussed.
Description
Dissertação de mestrado apresentada ao ISPA - Instituto Universitário
Keywords
Alexitimia Sintomatologia psicopatológica Estudo exploratório Alexithymia Psychopathological symptoms Exploratory study