PREDICTING SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION BASED ON ANGER, ANGER RUMINATION AND ALEXITHYMIA IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES

Diabetes is a common, chronic, and debilitating disease that affects millions of people worldwide, causing psychological, social and physical complications. Diagnosis of diabetes, new lifestyle and restrictive diet can pose many psychological problems, including depression for diabetic patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of anger, anger rumination and alexithymia in predicting symptoms of depression.

218 patients (94 males and 124 females) with type 1 and type 2 diabetes participated in the research and were asked to complete Multidimensional Anger Inventory (MAI), Anger Rumination Scale (ARS), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS).

There was a positive and significant correlation between all the components of anger, anger rumination, and alexithymia with symptoms of depression, though the severity of the correlation in external anger (r=0/14**) and objective thinking (r=0/17**) was less than those of other components. Also, among the dimensions of anger, anger rumination, and alexithymia, anger arousal (p<0/05, B=0/20), angry afterthoughts (p<0/05, B=0/32), revenge thoughts (p<0/05, B=0/25), and difficulty identifying feelings (p<0/05, B=0/32) were able to predict the symptoms of depression in patients with diabetes.

Anger, anger rumination, and alexithymia play a major role in creating the depressive symptoms. Symptoms of depression increase the burden of the disease in patients with diabetes. Therefore, it is important to include these factors in treatment protocols and help patients with diabetes identify, describe, and express negative and positive emotions more efficiently so that they can cope with the complications of the disease better.