PECULIARITIES OF ALEXITYMIA LEVEL AND TYPE OF ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE DISEASE AMONG STUDENTS WITH PSYCHOSOMATIC DISEASES

The article presents the results of study for peculiarities of alexitymia level and type of attitude towards disease among students with psychosomatic diseases. Urgency of the research is conditioned with the fact that modern society faces the growing problem of psychosomatic diseases, which are diagnosed among students with increasing frequency. Alexitymia influences the human’s perception of the disease and attitude towards own health in whole, which makes the treatment process complicated. As methods, we used questionnaire survey with the aim to disclose the group of patients (conditional) with psychosomatic diseases, «Toronto alexitymia scale» (TAS-26) estimation of alexitymia level and method of «Type of attitude towards disease» for diagnostics of the type of attitude towards disease among students. Significant interrelations between alexitymia level and types of attitude towards disease among students with psychosomatic diseases were disclosed. It was found that students with high alexitymia level much more frequently have psychosomatic diseases compared to students with low alexitymia level. The significance of research is in its practical opportunities for improvement of collaboration of general practitioners and psychologists, which is especially important at treatment of students with psychosomatic diseases. The understanding of interrelation peculiarities of alexitymia and type of attitude towards disease among students gives the opportunity to select the most efficient complex methods of accompaniment and treatment, and promotes the patient retention towards the therapy.