Open Door Review

baseline-alexithymic group, indicating a lack of absolute stability of alexithymia during treatment. In contrast to Rufer et al., all three TAS factors decreased significantly during the treatment. However, we found evidence for a high degree of relative stability of TAS-20 scores between t0 and t2 in the total sample which is in line with a large body of evidence. Only 13–16% of the variance in the changes of TAS-20 scores was explained by the changes in GSI scores from baseline to t2. Therefore, besides the changes in psychopathological distress, other unmeasured or unknown factors contributed to the majority of changes in the TAS-20 scores. Acknowledging the significant decrease in TAS-20 scores and the robust symptom reduction of psycho- pathological distress (GSI) at the end of the treatment in the alexithymic group, we assume that the ‘high-care’ in-patient setting was very effective in improving the identification, the differentiation and the verbalization of emotions and feelings. Future studies should investigate the efficacy of different treatments in alleviating alexithymia and should use a recently developed interview for the assessment of alexithymia. Prospective follow-up studies are required to evaluate the impact of persistent alexithymia and residual psychopathological symptoms at discharge on long-term outcome. G$#.1/.\! Hans Joergen Grabe MD. Department of Psychiatry. Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald . HANSE-Klinikum Stralsund Rostocker Chaussee 70 D–18437 Stralsund (Germany) Tel. +49 3831 45 2106. Email: grabeh@uni-greifswald.de

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