Relation of fatigue with alexithymia and depression in psychiatric outpatients

The complaint of fatigue is common in community, primary care, and psychiatric settings. Fatigue is often associated with depression and psychosocial stress. This report investigated the role of alexithymia and depression in fatigue as reported in a sample of 151 psychiatric outpatients (75 men and 76 women) who completed all scales. The mean age of the sample was 45.5 yr. (SD= 12.5), and mean education was 16.2 yr. (SD=2.4). Fatigue was inversely correlated with education (-.16) and positively correlated with depression (.44), anxiety (.30), and alexithymia (.35). However, in a multivariate regression analysis, only depression and alexithymia remained significant (p < or = .01).