@article{ref1,
title="Alexithymia and suicidality in panic disorder",
journal="Comprehensive psychiatry",
year="2001",
author="Iancu, I. and Dannon, P. N. and Poreh, A. and Lepkifker, E. and Grunhaus, L.",
volume="42",
number="6",
pages="477-481",
abstract="To evaluate the prevalence of suicidal behavior in patients with panic disorder (PD) and to study the role of alexithymia (AL), an affect component, as a predictor of suicidal behavior in PD, we compared 42 patients with PD with or without agoraphobia with 24 healthy controls with regards to depression, AL and suicide risk. Only 5% of the PD patients reported previous suicide attempts. A higher frequency of positive AL (score > 73) was found among the PD patients (39% v 4% among the controls). PD patients had a higher suicide risk and AL as compared to controls, but only the increased suicide risk reached statistical significance. AL subjects had higher suicide risk scores as compared to non-AL subjects. Significant correlations were found between the AL score and suicide risk, although the most significant correlation was, as expected, between the depression level and the suicide risk. A low rate of previous suicide attempts was found in the PD group, perhaps reflecting the low comorbidity in our sample. We suggest that AL may have a role in the causation of suicidal behavior in PD patients, although further studies should re-examine this issue with larger samples.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0010-440X",
doi="10.1053/comp.2001.27893",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/comp.2001.27893"
}