The Comparison of Alexithymia and Emotions Control among Substance Abusers and Healthy People

The purpose of the present study was to compare Alexithymia and emotional control among substance abusers and healthy people. The research design was causal-comparative research design which is categorized as descriptive research method. The population included of all people who were referred to addiction treatment centers in Noor-Abad city (Delfan). The participants of the study comprised of 50 addicts under treatment and 50 healthy participants who were matched based on age, education level, social-economical status, and number of children; selected by available sampling method. The alexithymia (TAS-20) and emotions control scales administered among both groups. The results showed that there is a significant difference between addicts and non-addicts groups in terms of alexithymia and emotional control. In addition, difficulty in identifying of feelings, depression, anxiety and anger were the most important predictors of addiction severity. These results show that any difficulty in expressing emotions and disability in controlling of negative emotions (anger, depression, and anxiety) are risk factors for substance abuse.