Alexithymia in male infertility
| Autor: | M. Langenbuch, Gerhard Haidl, Rupert Conrad, Guntram Schilling, Reinhard Liedtke |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2001 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male medicine.medical_specialty Coping (psychology) media_common.quotation_subject Emotions Male infertility Toronto Alexithymia Scale Alexithymia Reference Values Outpatients medicine Humans Personality Affective Symptoms Somatization disorder Somatoform Disorders Psychiatry Infertility Male media_common medicine.diagnostic_test business.industry Communication Rehabilitation Obstetrics and Gynecology medicine.disease Psychophysiologic Disorders Reproductive Medicine Feeling business Somatization |
| Zdroj: | Human Reproduction. 16:587-592 |
| ISSN: | 1460-2350 0268-1161 |
| Popis: | The continuing confrontation with the thoughts and feelings surrounding an unfulfilled wish for a child makes coping very difficult. There is empirical evidence that, in medical illnesses associated with stress and loss of quality of life, patients react with alexithymia, which means a difficulty to communicate emotions. In this study we compared 84 infertile men with a group of 96 healthy men and 43 male psychosomatic outpatients concerning their ability to communicate feelings, measured by the Twenty-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the amount of psychopathologically relevant symptoms, especially somatization, measured by the Symptom Checklist 90-R and a List of Complaints (Beschwerden-Liste). The results showed a significantly higher alexithymia in infertile men compared with healthy men (P < 0.05), but a significantly lower alexithymia compared with psychosomatic outpatients (P < 0.05). Furthermore the study group showed significantly more somatic complaints in the List of Complaints compared with healthy men (P < 0.05). The importance of alexithymia in male infertility is discussed on the basis of empirical results that it might play a defensive role as far as depression is concerned but on the other hand increases the possibility of somatic complaints. The need for prospective studies in further research is emphasized. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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