Anger and alexithymic characteristics of the patients diagnosed with insomnia: a control group study

Accessible summary The research was designed as a cross-sectional study to compare the alexithymic characteristics, trait anger and anger expression styles of those who are diagnosed with insomnia with those who are not. Participants receiving a treatment for insomnia were diagnosed with regard to DSM-IV-TR criteria, by a neuropsychiatrist who is a trained assessor on DSM-IV-TR and not a researcher in a current study. In this research, it was determined that insomniac patients have higher points in alexithymia, trait anger and anger expression-in but lower points in anger control and anger expression-out than healthy individuals do. These findings underline the necessity to study more cautiously and with more details while gathering information from insomniac individuals and the necessity to study to evaluate insomnia as a disorder not just resulting from physical conditions and problems but also resulting from difficulties of defining and expressing emotions. We think that the research data are important for treatment and care of insomniac patients. In this sense, we can advise that psychiatric nurses should give psycho-education on recognizing and expressing emotions, individually or in-group, to patients suffering from insomnia. Abstract The research was designed with a descriptive purpose to compare the alexithymic characteristics, trait anger and anger expression styles of those who are diagnosed with insomnia with those who are not. It was conducted with 96 patients who applied to Department of Sleep Disorders and were diagnosed with insomnia and 96 volunteers were not diagnosed with any psychiatric diagnosis and had not any sleep disorders in two Medical Faculty Hospitals in west of Turkey. Three types of forms were used to collect research data. The first form is the Sociodemographic Characteristics Form, the second one is The Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the third one is the Trait Anger-Anger Expression Scale. It was determined that the patients diagnosed with insomnia had displayed much more alexithymic characteristics than control group. Insomniac patients had higher level of anger and anger expression-in than the control group was found. In accordance with the findings, it is suggested that more comprehensive data should be obtained from the patients having sleeping problems and, that the nursing interventions on the patients' recognition, expression and anger management should be reflected on the nursing holistic care.