Family Care Centre Strandbjörket, Kronoberg County Council, SE-351 85 Växjö, Sweden.
Unit of Research and Development, Box 1223, SE-351 12 Växjö, Sweden.
Biopsychosoc Med. 2010 Jun 4;4(1):5. doi: 10.1186/1751-0759-4-5.
Alexithymia is a disturbance associated with psychosomatic disorders, pain syndromes, and a variety of psychiatric disorders. The Affect School (AS) based on Tomkins Affect Theory is a therapy focusing on innate affects and their physiological expressions, feelings, emotions and scripts. In this pilot study we tried the AS-intervention method in patients with chronic benign pain.
The AS-intervention, with 8 weekly group sessions and 10 individual sessions, was offered to 59 patients with chronic non-malignant pain at a pain rehabilitation clinic in Sweden 2004-2005. Pre and post intervention assessments were done with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HAD), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20), the Visual Analogue Scale for pain assessment (VAS-pain), the European Quality of Life health barometer (EQoL) and the Stress and Crisis Inventory-93 (SCI-93). After the group sessions we used Bergdahl's Questionnaire for assessing changes in interpersonal relations, general well-being and evaluation of AS.
The AS intervention was completed by 54 out of 59 (92%) patients. Significant reductions in total TAS-20 post-test scores (p = 0.0006) as well as TAS-20 DIF and DDF factors (Difficulties Identifying Feelings, and Difficulties Describing Feelings) were seen (p = 0.0001, and p = 0.0008) while the EOT factor (Externally Oriented Thinking) did not change. Improvements of HAD-depression scores (p = 0.04), EQoL (p = 0.02) and self-assessed changes in relations to others (p < 0.001) were also seen. After Bonferroni Correction for Multiple Analyses the TAS-20 test score reduction was still significant as well as Bergdahl's test after group sessions. The HAD, EQoL, SCI-93, and VAS-pain scores were not significantly changed. The AS-intervention was ranked high by the participants.
This pilot study involving 59 patients with chronic benign pain indicates that the alexithymia DIF and DDF, as well as depression, social relations and quality of life may be improved by the Affect School therapeutic intervention.
述情障碍与身心障碍、疼痛综合征和各种精神障碍有关。基于汤姆金斯情感理论的情感学派（AS）是一种专注于先天情感及其生理表现、感觉、情感和剧本的治疗方法。在这项初步研究中，我们尝试了在慢性良性疼痛患者中使用 AS 干预方法。
2004-2005 年，在瑞典的一家疼痛康复诊所，对 59 名慢性非恶性疼痛患者进行了为期 8 周的团体治疗和 10 次个体治疗。在干预前和干预后，使用医院焦虑和抑郁量表（HAD）、多伦多述情障碍量表-20 版（TAS-20）、视觉模拟疼痛评估量表（VAS-pain）、欧洲生活质量健康标杆（EQoL）和应激和危机量表-93（SCI-93）进行评估。在小组会议结束后，我们使用 Bergdahl 问卷评估人际关系变化、一般幸福感和对 AS 的评价。
59 名患者中有 54 名（92%）完成了 AS 干预。TAS-20 总分在干预后明显降低（p = 0.0006），TAS-20 的 DIF 和 DDF 因子（识别困难和描述困难）也明显降低（p = 0.0001 和 p = 0.0008），而 EOT 因子（外倾思维）没有改变。HAD 抑郁评分（p = 0.04）、EQoL（p = 0.02）和自我评价人际关系变化（p < 0.001）也有所改善。经过多次分析的 Bonferroni 校正后，TAS-20 测试分数的降低仍然显著，Bergdahl 测试也显著降低。HAD、EQoL、SCI-93 和 VAS-pain 评分没有明显变化。参与者对 AS 干预的评价很高。
这项涉及 59 名慢性良性疼痛患者的初步研究表明，述情障碍的 DIF 和 DDF，以及抑郁、社会关系和生活质量可能通过情感学派治疗干预得到改善。
