Dissociation and alexithymia in a Romanian sample of substance abuse patients

Abstract

Previous studies found a relationship between substance use, dissociative experiences, and alexithymia, but the topic was not approached in a Romanian sample. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the levels of dissociative experiences and alexithymia comparing a group of controls without addictions to three addictive groups (tobacco, cannabis, and alcohol).

The results indicated that alcohol abusers have a significantly higher level of alexithymia than cannabis abusers, smoker abusers, and controls. We also detected significant differences in alcoholic patients and the other groups on difficulty identifying feelings and externally oriented thinking from Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 subscales, but not on difficulty describing feelings. There was no significant effect of substance type on dissociation measured with Dissociative Experiences Scale-II. This study partially addressed the void in the literature by revealing some psychological features of Romanian patients with substance abuse disorders.

Keywords:

• Alexithymia
• dissociative experiences
• substance abuse

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the many researchers and specialists who contributed to this study, with special appreciation for Chelaru Mihaela from “The National Anti-Drug Agency” of Iaşi; Andrei Radu from “The Socola Psychiatric Institute” of Iaşi; Ana-Maria Pălimariu from “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi; and Miron Mihaela from “Anonymous Alcoholics” of Iaşi.