Development of alexithymic personality features

Table 1 Studies that assessed the stability of alexithymia in patient and non-clinical populations

Ref.	Country	Sample	n	Age group and gender	Measure	Type of stability assessed	Follow-up period	Outcome
Misterska et al[99]	Poland	Patients with idiopathic scoliosis undergoing brace treatment	36	Adolescent females	TAS-26	Absolute and relative	12 mo	Low absolute stability, high relative stability
Karukivi et al[100]	Finland	Non-clinical	315	Adolescent males and females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	4 yr	High absolute stability, high relative stability
de Haan et al[101]	The Netherlands	Patients with substance use disorders	101	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	3 wk	Low absolute stability, moderate to high relative stability
Zunhammer et al[102]	Germany	Non-clinical	142	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	Not available	Moderate to high absolute stability, high relative stability
Marchesi et al[103]	Italy	Pregnant panic disorder patients (n = 21) and healthy controls (n = 256)	277	Adult females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	Not available	Low absolute stability, moderate relative stability
de Haan et al[104]	The Netherlands	Patients with substance use disorders	187	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	3 mo	Low absolute stability, moderate relative stability
Porcelli et al[105]	Italy	Patients with cancer (half received a psychological intervention)	104	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	6 mo	Low absolute stability, high relative stability
Tolmunen et al[106]	Finland	Non-clinical	755	Adult males	TAS-26	Absolute and relative	11 yr	High absolute stability, high relative stability
Larsson et al[107]	Sweden	Non-clinical peacekeepers	104	Adult males	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	6 mo	Low absolute stability, moderate relative stability
Meganck et al[108]	Belgium	Patient sample (n = 201) and non-clinical (n = 264)	465	Adult males and females	OAS	Relative	2 wk	High relative stability
Seo et al[109]	South Korea	Non-clinical	22	Adolescent males and females	TAS-20	Relative	4 wk	High relative stability
Spek et al[110]	The Netherlands	Patients with sub-threshold depression	119	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute	12 mo	Low absolute stability
Marchesi et al[111]	Italy	Patients with major depression (n = 16), sub-threshold depression (n = 21) and without depression (n = 112)	149	Adult females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	Not available	Low absolute stability, high relative stability
Grabe et al[112]	Germany	Patients admitted to psychotherapeutic treatment	297	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	8-12 wk	Low absolute stability, high relative stability
de Timary et al[113]	Belgium	Patients with alcohol-dependence undergoing treatment	70	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	14-18 d	Moderate absolute stability, high relative stability
Luminet et al[114]	France	Breast cancer patients	122	Adult females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	6 mo	Low absolute stability, high relative stability
Moriguchi et al[115]	Japan	Non-clinical	196	Adult females	TAS-20	Relative	11 wk	Moderate relative stability
Säkkinen et al[93]	Finland	Non-clinical	769	Adolescent males and females	TAS-20	Relative	5 wk	High relative stability
Rufer et al[116]	Switzerland	Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder	42	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	6 yr	Low absolute stability, high relative stability
de Vente et al[117]	The Netherlands	Patients with work-related stress (n = 69) and a non-clinical sample (n = 62)	131	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	16 wk	Low to moderate absolute stability, moderate relative stability
Salminen et al[118]	Finland	Non-clinical	901	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	5 yr	High absolute stability, moderate to high relative stability
Saarijarvi et al[119]	Finland	Patients with major depression	116	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	5 yr	Low absolute stability, high relative stability
Picardi et al[57]	Italy	Non-clinical	115	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	1 mo	High absolute stability, high relative stability
Berthoz et al[120]	United Kingdom	Patients with autism spectrum disorder (n = 19) and healthy controls (n = 29)	48	Adult males and females	TAS-20 BVAQ-B	Relative	4-12 mo	TAS-20: high relative stability BVAQ-B: moderate relative stability
Yao et al[121]	China	Non-clinical	34	Adult females and males	OAS	Relative	2 wk	High relative stability
De Gucht et al[122]	The Netherlands	Patients with medically unexplained symptoms (n = 313) and a non-clinical sample (n = 698)	1011	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Relative	6 mo	High relative stability
Rufer et al[123]	Germany	Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder	42	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	Not available	High absolute stability, high relative stability
De Gucht[124]	The Netherlands	Patients with somatization	318	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	6 mo	High absolute stability, high relative stability
Porcelli et al[125]	Italy	Patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders	112	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	6 mo	High absolute stability, high relative stability
Kojima et al[126]	Canada	Patients with previous myocardial infarction	1443	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	3-6 mo	Moderate absolute stability, low relative stability
Luminet et al[127]	Belgium	Patients with major depression	46	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	14 wk	Low absolute stability, high relative stability
Honkalampi et al[128]	Finland	Non-clinical	1584	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute and relative	12 mo	Low absolute stability, high relative stability
Honkalampi et al[129]	Finland	Patients with major depression	169	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Absolute	6 mo	Low absolute stability
Bressi et al[130]	Italy	Non-clinical	180	Adult males and females	TAS-20	Relative	2 wk	High relative stability

n: Number of subjects; TAS-20: 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale; OAS: Observer Alexithymia Scale; BVAQ-B: Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire, version B.