Alexithymia, Anger and Anger Expression Styles as Predictors of Psychological Symptoms

Amaç: Alanyazın incelendiğinde aleksitimi, öfke ve öfke ifade tarzlarının psikolojik belirtileri yordamada önemli değişkenler olduğu görülmektedir. Bununla birlikte, aleksitimik özelliklerin öfke ve öfkenin ifade edilmesi konusunda çeşitli zorluklara neden olabileceği anlaşılmaktadır. Buradan hareketle, bu çalışmanın amacı üniversite örnekleminde aleksitimi, öfke ve öfke ifade tarzlarının bir araya gelerek psikolojik belirtilerdeki artışı ne derece yordadığını incelemektir. Yöntem: Çalışmada Hacettepe Üniversitesi'nin farklı bölümlerinden 434 öğrenciye (244 kadın, 190 erkek) Demografik Bilgi Formu ile birlikte aleksitimik özellikler taşıyıp taşımadıklarını değerlendirmek amacıyla 20 maddelik Toronto Aleksitimi Ölçeği (TAÖ-20), öfke duygularını ve öfke ifade tarzlarını değerlendirmek amacıyla Sürekli Öfke-Öfke Tarz Ölçeği (SÖÖTÖ), psikolojik belirtilerini taramak için de Kısa Semptom Envanteri (KSE) uygulanmıştır. Çalışmanın tüm değişkenleri arasındaki ilişkileri değerlendirmek amacıyla uygulanan korelasyon analizinin ardından, aleksitimi, öfke ve öfke ifade tarzlarının psikolojik belirtileri yordama gücünün incelenmesi amacıyla hiyerarşik regresyon analizi yürütülmüştür. Bulgular: Regresyon analizi, aleksitimi, sürekli öfke ve içte tutulan öfkenin bir araya gelerek psikolojik belirtileri pozitif yönde yordadığını göstermiştir. Sonuç: Mevcut çalışma aleksitimik özelliklerin, öfkenin ve öfke ifade tarzlarının psikolojik belirtileri açıklayabileceğine işaret etmektedir. Ayrıca mevcut çalışma, bir tanı almayı gerektirmeyecek bile olsa, psikolojik belirtileri azaltmayı hedefleyen psikoterapilerde aleksitimik özelliklerin, öfkeyi deneyimleme sıklığının ve öfkenin sağlıklı şekillerde ifade edilmesinin ayrı ayrı değil, eşzamanlı olarak ve bir bütün şeklinde ele alınmasının yararına vurgu yapmaktadır

Psikolojik belirtilerin yordayıcıları olarak aleksitimi, öfke ve öfke ifade tarzları

Objective: A review of the literature shows that alexithymia, anger, and anger expression styles have been important variables in predicting psychological symptoms. Furthermore, alexithymic characteristics may cause various difficulties in anger and its expression. From this point of view, the aim of our study was to investigate the extent to which alexithymia, anger, and anger expression styles predicted psychological symptoms in the university sample. Method: The present study included 434 students (244 women, 190 men) from different departments of Hacettepe University. In addition to the Demographic Information Form, participants were administered the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) to assess the presence of alexithymic characteristics; to evaluate their anger and anger expression styles, the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) was used, and participants’ psychological symptoms were examined using the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). After carrying out a correlation analysis to evaluate the relationships between all variables of the study, hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to investigate the degree to which alexithymia, anger, and anger expression styles predicted psychological symptoms.Results: According to the regression analysis, it was concluded that alexithymia, trait anger, and anger-in positively predicted psychological symptoms. Conclusion: Our study indicates that alexithymic characteristics, anger, and anger expression styles explain psychological symptoms. Additionally, it emphasizes the benefit of addressing alexithymic characteristics, the frequency of anger experience, and healthy ways of anger expression simultaneously and as a whole rather than individually in psychotherapies aiming to reduce psychological symptoms, even in persons that do not require a diagnosis

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