Alexithymia and Attachment Style in Patients With Somatic Symptoms

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

psychological assessment: The intervention consists in the assessment of some psychological aspects (emotional awareness, attachment style and the ability to abstract and symbolize (IQ)) of pediatric patients who present with somatic symptom disorders. , through specific tests. Each patient fills out the test battery during the psychological consult. At the same time, it is involved a parent to collect personal and clinical data through an ad hoc questionnaire.

Study summary

To evaluate whether emotional awareness, attachment style and the ability to abstract and symbolize (IQ) influence the appearance of somatic symptoms. Hypothesis: the investigators expect the presence of somatic symptoms linked to the lower ability of emotional awareness, to lower ability to abstract and symbolize and to an insecure attachment style.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Emotional awareness — Patients fill out the questionnaire at their enrollment in the study, during their first psychological consult after medical referral.
  Emotion Awareness Questionnaire - EAQ-30 (Rieffe et al., 2008; Camodeca \& Rieffe, 2013) The EAQ is a self-report test aimed at measuring the emotional awareness of children and adolescents, it is composed of 6 subscales and 30 items and has a Likert scale of 3 points. High scores obtained at the different subscales indicate a high emotional awareness. The cut offs are specific for age and sex, for the interpretation of the scores reference is made to the scores obtained by the control group in the study by Camodeca et al., 2013.
• attachment style — Patients fill out the questionnaire at their enrollment in the study, during their first psychological consult after medical referral.
  The Saparation Anxiety Test - SAT, Italian version adapted from Attili (2001) is a semi-projective tool aimed at measuring the attachment style of the child and adolescent, through the analysis of reactions and verbal responses to stimuli that illustrate 6 hypothetical situations of separation by parental figures. The responses are then classified into 8 categories which calculate a score that is compared with reference score ranges that correspond to 4 different attachment styles. Specifically, scores equal to or greater than 4 indicate secure attachment, scores between 3 and 1 an ambivalent insecure attachment, scores between 0 and -2 an avoidant insecure attachment, and finally scores equal to or lower than -3 are indicative of an attachment style disorganized / confused.
• Ability to abstract and symbolize (IQ) — Patients fill out the questionnaire at their enrollment in the study, during their first psychological consult after medical referral.
  Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices - SPM-RA (Raven, 1982), are a test that aims to measure the general factor of fluid intelligence. the test consists of four series (A, B, C, D) of 12 items each of increasing complexity. It is an excellent test from both a psychometric and a factorial point of view. The updated report - SPM-RA (prepared by Picone, Orsini and Pezzuti) will be used as a reference for the test scoring, which allows the instrument to be used for a sample aged 6 to 18. An intelligence score above 25/36 indicates an above average intelligence level, scores between 17/36 and 25/36 are to be considered indicative of an average intelligence level, scores below 17/36 below average intelligence medium (Picone, Orsini and Pezzuti)

Trial sites (2)

More Meyer Children's Hospital IRCCS trials in Italy