Sifneos alexithymia questionnaire in assessment of general alexithymia in patients with breast disease and breast cancer: a prospective case-control study in Finland.

BACKGROUND In 1973, Sifneos introduced the word 'alexithymia' to describe the inability to find appropriate words to describe one's feelings. To the Authors' knowledge, the associations between alexithymia and the risk of breast cancer (BC) are rarely considered together in a prospective study. PATIENTS AND METHODS In an extension of the Kuopio Breast Cancer Study 115 women with breast symptoms were semi-structurally interviewed in-depth, as well as being asked to complete standardised questionnaires (Beck, Forsen, MADRS, Spielberger), and all study variables were obtained before any diagnostic procedures were carried out. The investigator estimated the alexithymia of the study participants using a 5-point scale. RESULTS The clinical examination and biopsy showed BC in 34 patients, benign breast disease (BBD) in 53 patients, and 28 individuals were shown to be healthy (HSS). There was a significance for the women with BC to have more alienation from own body (Function C, p=0.03) (mean Alexithymia score, 2.82) than those of the BBD (mean Alexithymia score, 3.40) and HSS groups (mean Alexithymia score, 3.29). The BC group had significantly more alienation from own experience (Function D, p=0.01) (mean Alexithymia score, 2.82) than the patients in the BBD group (mean Alexithymia score, 3.51) and in the HSS group (mean Alexithymia score, 3.36). The BC group also had more alienation from own feelings (Function E, p=0.05) and more deficit in self-experience (Function F, p=0.05) than the patients in the BBD group and the patients in the HSS group. CONCLUSION The results of this study show that the patients with BC tended to have an increased risk for alexithymia.