P1: The Relationship between Alexithymia and Anxiety in Male Schizophrenic Patients

The current study was aimed to examine the relationship between alexithymia and anxiety among male schizophrenic inpatients. The study was of descriptive and predictive nature. The sample consisted of 50 male patients in Niayesh psychiatric hospital of Tehran, all of whom diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia (at least 2 years). The Toronto alexithymia scale and self-scaled anxiety scale were administered. The data was analyzed using correlation and regression methods.The results showed significant correlations between anxiety, alexithymia and the subscales of alexithymia. It was also observed that alexithymia could predict about 69 percent of variances in anxiety scores (P=0.001). The analyses revealed that among the tree subscales of alexithymia, only difficulty in identifying feelings had significant role in predicting variances of anxiety (P=0.001). The role of the other two subscales was insignificant. The regression analyses in this study showed that alexithymia could predict about 69 percent of variances in anxiety scores. The results also showed that among the three subscales of alexithymia, difficulty identifying feelings correlated positively with anxiety, and this could be due to problems in cognitive processing of these patients. Alexithymia may cause difficulty in identifying and expressing feelings and hence increase anxiety.