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Recognition of Emotional Facial Expressions and Alexithymia in Patients with Chronic Facial Pain
(2018)
Objectives
Alexithymia, conceived as difficulties to identify emotions, is said to be related with several pain syndromes. This study examined the recognition of facially expressed emotions and its relation to alexithymia in subjects with chronic facial pain.
Methods
A total of 62 subjects were recruited, with n=20 patients with chronic facial pain and n=42 healthy controls. All subjects were tested for the recognition of facially expressed emotions (Facially Expressed Emotion Labelling Test (FEEL test). The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-26) was used for the diagnosis of alexithymia.
Results
Patients with chronic facial pain performed worse than controls at the FEEL task (p<.001) and showed higher total TAS scores (p<.001). This indicates the presence of alexithymia and facial emotion recognition deficits in the facial pain group.
Discussion
It was concluded from the results that both the recognition of facially expressed emotions, and the ability to identify and describe one’s own feelings (TAS), are restricted in chronic orofacial pain patients. This relationship is particularly important in the treatment of chronic facial pain, indicating that it should become part of the treatment in addition to the therapeutic key issues, to influence the quality of life of the affected patients positively.