Comparative Study of Alexithymia in Patients with Psychotic Disorders, Non Psychotic and Normal People

Introduction & Objective: The previous studies investigating alexithymia in psychotic patients indicated that such patients have difficulty in identifying and expressing their feelings. The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent of alexithymia in patients with psychotic disorders, non psychotic disorders, and normal people. Materials & Methods: In this causal-comparative study 60 psychotic, 60 non-psychotic patients and 140 students were selected via available sampling method (the results of Leven's test indicated the homogeneity of variance among the three groups). Using Torento Alexithymia Scale( TAS-20),we compared them with each others. Results: Results showed that the extent of alexithymia in psychotic and non-psychotic patients was higher than that of normal people(P