Suicidal ideation and alexithymia in patients with alcoholism: a pilot study.
OBJECTIVE: Suicidal incidences are known to be high in patients manifesting alcoholism. We attempted to characterize suicidal ideation in Japanese patients with alcoholism in relation to alexithymia. METHODS: Eighty-five male alcoholic patients, hospitalized in the alcoholics ward of a mental hospital and aged between 40 to 69 (52.9 +/- 8.3 years), and 79 nonalcoholic males in the same age range (54.9 +/- 7.1 years) recruited from a municipal garbage disposal plant were included in the study. The patients were evaluated using the Scale of Suicidal Ideation (SSI) and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) during 2002. RESULTS: Of the alcoholic patients, 76.6% belonged to the high-risk group of suicidal ideation (SSI > 2), and 66.6% of the high-risk patients were alexithymic. In contrast, 86.1% of the nonalcoholic controls showed no suicidal ideation and only 17.7% of those without suicidal ideation were alexithymic. When the alcoholic patients with intensive suicidal ideation were compared with nonalcoholic patients without suicidal ideation, the scores of factor 1 and factor 2 were significantly higher in the former group (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Alcoholic patients with intensive suicidal ideation accompanied with alexithymia are characterized by the inability to communicate feelings. Therefore, the possibility of a suicidal attempt in those patients should always be kept in mind even though no suicide message is expressed.