To be aware of or else holding back emotions among inflammatory bowel disease patients: quality of life repercussions of some related aspects

Ramiro Veríssimo

In a cross-sectional study we obtained data from 59 inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) outpatients, 22 men and 37 women. The aim of this study was to further clarify the empirically assumed involvement of some aspects in alexithymia and related constructs, while also exploring the possible influence of these affect regulation variables in health related quality of life.

The IBD questionnaire, in its – still unpublished – form adopted in the present study, proved once again to be a rather sensitive and valid instrument to assess qua-lity of life among IBD patients.

Dismissing imaginal activities, generally speaking, was associated with alexithymia, and worst quality of life; while playful interactions, on the other hand, were associated with an internal locus of control, control over the emotional expression, and a better quality of life. Intense social life, in turn, associa-

To be aware of or else holding back emotions among inflammatory bowel disease patients: quality of life repercussions of some related aspects ting externally oriented thinking, seemed more as a way to divert emotional arousal.
Communication of affects is associated with expressing emotions outward and lesser dysphoria; while difficulties communicating with others is associated with alexithymia - namely difficulty describing feelings -, dysphoria, an external locus of control, expressing emotions inward, lack of positive affects and sensation seeking, and a poorer family functioning. The findings are consistent with the postulates of the theoretical model under which alexithymia, as opposed to an internal locus of control and emotional control, is considered not only as conditioning life and communication style, but the basis for disorders of the affect regulation and somatic symptoms amplification as well.

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