Alexithymia and drug abuse in men and women in treatment

Abstract

Introduction: alexithymia is a personality trait characterized by a difficulty to identify and express emotions –with higher prevalence in men than in women– that is present in half of the drug users.

Objective: to compare the presence of alexithymia in men and women looking for drug abuse treatment.

Method: cross-sectional comparative study by sex and drug used.

Results: half of the 264 participants have alexithymic personality traits, four times more than general population. There were observed differences by sex, but only in the difficulty to identify emotions (higher in men). It also highlights that there are differences in the level of alexithymia by types of drug.

Discussion: according with the background on the subject, a high proportion of alexithymia is observed among participating, which is important if it is considered that patients with this trait have a particular difficulty to respond to cognitive behavioral treatments, which are approaches widely used in the treatment of drug addiction. It also highlights the little difference in alexithymia among men and women drug abusers, compared to the general population in which this trait is clearly higher among men. This highlights the need to develop strategies to help improve the introspective and affective communication capacity of these patients.