Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 May 10;7(5):112.
doi: 10.3390/jcm7050112.

Alexithymia and Somatosensory Amplification Link Perceived Psychosocial Stress and Somatic Symptoms in Outpatients with Psychosomatic Illness

Mutsuhiro Nakao  1   2 , Takeaki Takeuchi  3   4
Affiliations

Alexithymia and Somatosensory Amplification Link Perceived Psychosocial Stress and Somatic Symptoms in Outpatients with Psychosomatic Illness

Mutsuhiro Nakao et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Background: Psychosomatic patients often complain of a variety of somatic symptoms. We sought to clarify the role of clinical predictors of complaints of somatic symptoms.

Methods: We enrolled 604 patients visiting a psychosomatic outpatient clinic. The outcome was the total number of somatic symptoms, and the candidate clinical predictors were perceived psychosocial stress, alexithymia, somatosensory amplification, adaptation, anxiety, and depression. All participants completed questionnaires assessing the outcome and the predictors.

Results: The average number of reported somatic symptoms was 4.8; the most frequent was fatigue (75.3%), followed by insomnia (56.1%), low-back pain (49.5%), headache (44.7%), and palpitations (43.1%). Multiple regression analysis showed that the total number of somatic symptoms was significantly associated with the degree of perceived psychosocial stress, alexithymia, somatosensory amplification, and depression. Also, structural equation models indicated links between excessive adaptation (via perceived psychosocial stress, alexithymia, and somatosensory amplification) and the total number of somatic symptoms.

Conclusion: The results suggested that the association between psychosocial stress and reported somatic symptoms is mediated by alexithymia and somatosensory amplification in psychosomatic patients.

Keywords: alexithymia; anxiety; depression; excessive adaptation; psychosocial stress; psychosomatic medicine; somatic symptom; somatosensory amplification.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All procedures conformed to the ethical standards of the relevant committees overseeing human experimentation (both institutional and national) and those of the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 as revised in 2000. Written informed consent was obtained from all patients. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A model of somatic manifestation of psychosomatic illness. This structural equation model examines seven clinical variables in 604 psychosomatic outpatients. “Excessive adaptation” as reflected on the TEG Adapted Child scale; “anxiety” as scored on the POMS tension–anxiety scale; “depression” as revealed by the POMS depression scale; “psychosocial stress” as scored on the Stress Perception Scale; “alexithymia” as revealed by the TAS-20; and “somatosensory amplification” as shown by the SSAS. “Somatic symptoms”: the total number of somatic symptoms.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Murakami M., Nakai Y. Current state and future prospects for psychosomatic medicine in Japan. Biopsychosoc. Med. 2017;11:1. doi: 10.1186/s13030-017-0088-6. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. The Committee on Education and Training of the Japanese Society of Psychosomatic Medicine An updated treatment guideline for psychosomatic medicine. Jpn. J. Psychosom. Med. 1991;31:537–576. (In Japanese)
    1. Sifneos P.E. The prevalence of alexithymia characteristics in psychosomatic patients. Psychother. Psychosom. 1973;22:255–262. doi: 10.1159/000286529. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bagby R.M., Parker J.D.A., Taylor G.J. The twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale-I. Item selection and cross-validation of the factor structure. J. Psychosom. Res. 1994;38:33–40. - PubMed
    1. De Gucht V., Heiser W.J. Alexithymia and somatisation: Quantitative review of the literature. Psychosom. Res. 2003;54:425–434. doi: 10.1016/S0022-3999(02)00467-1. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources