LEXITHYMIA AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS IN PATIENTS WITH OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER AND SCHIZOPHRENIA WITH PSEUDOOBSESIVE SYMPTOMS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF RELATIONSHIPS

Obsessions and pseudoobsessions are often impregnated with other psychopathological symptoms — anxiety, depression, irritability, asthenia. In some cases, the array of comorbid psychopathology, which patients present in the form of complaints, may come to the fore, overshadowing obsessions and complicating both the diagnosis and treatment of such patients. Alexithymia is an important factor in forming a set of complaints with which patients come to the attention of a psychiatrist. However, despite the significance of alexithymia for the formation of the clinical picture of mental illnesses, its influence on the manifestations of psychopathological symptoms in patients with OCD and patients with schizophrenia with pseudoobsessions remains poorly studied. The purpose of the study - to determine the effect of alexithymia on the severity of psychopathological symptoms in patients with OCD and patients with schizophrenia with pseudoobsessions. 54 patients with OCD and 40 patients with schizophrenia and pseudoobsessions were examined. The level of alexithymia was assessed using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS). The intensity of obsessive and pseudoobsessive symptoms was determined using the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Scale (Y-BOCS). Anxiety and depression were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). As a result of the study, it was found that most patients with schizophrenia had pronounced alexithymia, while for patients with OCD alexithymia was uncharacteristic and more often corresponded to the level of subclinical values. It was found that among patients with OCD, individuals with a high level of alexithymia were inclined to interpret their obsessive experiences as more severe, while in patients with schizophrenia, the correlation coefficient between the severity of alexithymia and the severity of pseudo-obsessions was equal to zero. The severity of anxiety and depression had a positive statistically significant correlation of medium strength with alexithymia indicators in both groups, which means a moderate tendency of patients to aggravate the symptoms of the affective sphere with an increase in inadequate interpretation of their own feelings and emotions, regardless of the underlying disease.