THE TORONTO ALEXITHYMIA SCALE IN 2 SAMPLES OF PSYCHOSOMATIC PATIENTS

This study compares the results obtained on the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) by three groups of subjects, i.e., 25 patients with arterial hypertension (AHT), 20 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and 37 healthy volunteers (HV). The responses on the scale are studied by factor analysis, and the scores obtained by each group are compared by means of analysis of variance (ANOVA). The following mean scores were sowed by the three groups: HV, 58.2 points; RA, 71.3 (with a 40 per cent of the subjects above the cut-off line to be considered alexithymic of 74 points); and AHT, 75.3 (with a 76 per cent of cases above 74). The article ends with a discussion on the validity of the scale.