Social anxiety and alexithymia in children and adolescents diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Objective: The aim of this study is to compare the social anxiety and alexthymia levels of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) children and adolescents and healthy controls and to analyze possible relationship between alexithymia and social anxiety. Method: Twenty-seven children and adolescents (aged between 9-16 years) diagnosed with ADHD and their parents are recruited to research group while fifty children and adolescents who do not have a psychiatric diagnosis and their parents are included in control group. Sociodemographic Form, Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children (AQC), Turgay DSM-IV-based Child and Adolescent Behavior Disorders Screening and Rating Scale (T-DSM-IV), Social Anxiety Questionnaire for Children- 4th version (SAQ-CIV), K-SADS-PL (Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present and Lifetime Version), Conners Parent Rating Scale (CPRS) and Family Assessment Device and Parenting Scale were used to obtain data in this study. Result: The children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD had significantly higher scores of alexithymia and social anxiety compared to healthy controls. In addition, children with ADHD co-diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) got higher levels of alexithymia than children with ADHD without ODD. 'Recognizing Emotions', 'Explanations of Emotions' and 'Outward Oriented Thinking' subdimensions of Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children were significantly higher in ADHD group. There was also a positive relationship between alexithymia and social anxiety levels in both ADHD and control groups. Conclusion: The results supports that ADHD children have difficulty in recognizing and explaining emotions and have high risk for social anxiety. Also there is a relationship between alexithymia and social anxiety which is not specific for ADHD. Lastly, we suggest alexithymia as a risk factor of oppositional behavior in ADHD. Key words: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, alexithymia, social anxiety disorder