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Aim and Background: A large number of studies show that alexithymia may be a risk factor for many physical and mental illnesses. This study was conducted to evaluate the predictive value of different dimensions of alexithymia for assessing vulnerability to psychosomatic diseases. Methods and Materials: This case-control survey was conducted on 146 individuals. The subjects were selected through census method from among patients referred to the Psychosomatic Clinic of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Iran. The participants completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale. The obtained data were analyzed using logistic regression in SPSS software. Findings: The results showed that for every one unit increase in total score of alexithymia, the chance of psychosomatic disease incidence increased by 5% (P < 0.008). On the other hand, for every one unit increase in the subscale of difficulty in identifying feelings, the chance of psychosomatic disease incidence increases by 11%. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that alexithymia, and especially the subscale of difficulty in identifying feelings can significantly increase the risk of psychosomatic diseases. Therefore, alexithymia can be introduced as a predictive tool for psychosomatic diseases.

Keywords: Psychosomatic diseases, Alexithymia, Risk of incidence

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