Are Alexithymia, Depression and Hostility Related?

Balta GT, Karachalios T, Tsikrikas T, Angelopoulos NV

Background: Depression correlates positively with alexithymia. Less is known about the relationship between hostility and depression and even less about hostility and alexithymia. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between alexithymia, hostility and depression.

Methods:  The study was carried out with 308 subjects: 102 patients suffering from somatic illnesses, 98 depressive patients and 108 healthy people. The mean age of the group was 40.26 years (sd=11.63); 184 of them were women and 124 were men. The participants were assessed with the Beck Depression Index (BDI-21), the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Scale (HDHQ). Data regarding sociodemographic characteristics were also collected. Linear regression was performed to evaluate the relationship between the scores of the participants in each scale.

Results: Alexithymia scores correlate positively with depression scores (α= 41.73 and Β= 0.88, p= .000). Hostility scores correlate positively with depression scores (α= 15.66 and Β= 0.39, p= .000). Finally, alexithymia scores correlate positively with hostility scores (α= 31.05 and Β= 1.05, p= .000).

Conclusions: The more depressive somebody is, the more alexithymic and hostile he is likely to be; finally, the more hostile someone is, the more alexithymic he is likely to be.  

https://doi.org/10.31871/IJNTR.2.2.32