Essential Tremor and Alexithymia

Objective: Essential tremor (ET) is the most common cause of tremor. We know that this disease, which was presumed to be monosymptomatic until recently, may be accompanied by motor findings and a series of non-motor findings other than action tremor. Alexithymia can be defined as not being able to name emotions, express emotions, distinguish emotions from each other, or living without being aware of one’s own emotions. The aim of our study was to evaluate alexithymia in patients with ET. Materials and Methods: Forty-four patients with ET (mean age=38.22±18.05 years) and 46 control subjects (mean age=37.17±10.68 years) were included in the study. The Fahn-Tolosa-Marin Tremor Rating Scale was used for the patient group and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory were applied to both groups. Results: The mean TAS was 49.16±8.94 in the patient group and 42.34±6.27 in the control group (p