TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2005//
TI  - Suicidal ideation and alexithymia in patients with alcoholism: a pilot study
JO  - Substance use and misuse
A1  - Sakuraba, Shigeru
A1  - Kubo, Masako
A1  - Komoda, Takeshi
A1  - Yamana, Jun-Ichi
SP  - 823
EP  - 830
VL  - 40
IS  - 6
N2  - OBJECTIVE: Suicidal incidences are known to be high in patients manifesting alcoholism. We attempted to characterize suicidal ideation in Japanese patients with alcoholism in relation to alexithymia.  METHODS: Eighty-five male alcoholic patients, hospitalized in the alcoholics ward of a mental hospital and aged between 40 to 69 (52.9 +/- 8.3 years), and 79 nonalcoholic males in the same age range (54.9 +/- 7.1 years) recruited from a municipal garbage disposal plant were included in the study. The patients were evaluated using the Scale of Suicidal Ideation (SSI) and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) during 2002.  RESULTS: Of the alcoholic patients, 76.6% belonged to the high-risk group of suicidal ideation (SSI > 2), and 66.6% of the high-risk patients were alexithymic. In contrast, 86.1% of the nonalcoholic controls showed no suicidal ideation and only 17.7% of those without suicidal ideation were alexithymic. When the alcoholic patients with intensive suicidal ideation were compared with nonalcoholic patients without suicidal ideation, the scores of factor 1 and factor 2 were significantly higher in the former group (p < 0.001).  CONCLUSIONS: Alcoholic patients with intensive suicidal ideation accompanied with alexithymia are characterized by the inability to communicate feelings. Therefore, the possibility of a suicidal attempt in those patients should always be kept in mind even though no suicide message is expressed.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1082-6084
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1081/ja-200030702
ID  - ref1
ER  -