The effect of depression, anxiety, alexitimia level on sexual function and satisfaction in male patients with alcohol use disorder and comparison with healthy volunteers

Purpose: The aim of this study is to compare the effects of depression, anxiety level, alexithymia on sexual dysfunction and sexual satisfaction in male patients with alcohol dependence and comparison with healthy volunteers. Materials and Methods: The sample of this study; It consisted of 52 patients with Alcohol Addiction, who were diagnosed with alcohol use disorder according to DSM-5, among the patients who applied to the AMATEM outpatient clinic, and 52 healthy controls whose age was matched. Personal data form, SCID-1 test, Severity Of Alcohol Dependance Questionnaire, Beck Anxiety Scale, Beck Depression Scale, Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Arizona Sexual Experience Scale and Golombok-Rust Sexual Satisfaction Scale were applied. SPSS 24.0 package program was used in the analysis of the data. It was learned by the Kolmogrov-Smirnoff test that the data were normally distributed. Chi-square test, T test, Mann Whitney U test and ANOVA test were applied in independent groups. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of age, income level, place of residence and place of education. 23.1% of the participants in the alcohol addicted group are below the age of 15 to start using alcohol. It was observed that the depression, anxiety and alexithymia levels of the alcohol-dependent group were statistically significantly higher than the control group. It was observed that the level of alexithymia in the group with mild alcohol dependence was lower than the group with severe alcohol dependence; This shows that as the level of alcohol dependence increases, the level of alexithymia increases. According to Arizona Sexual Experiences Scale and Golombok-Rust Sexual Satisfaction Scale scores, the sexual dysfunction level of the alcohol-dependent group was statistically significantly higher than the healthy control group; that is, the level of sexual dysfunction was higher in the alcohol-dependent group. It was observed that as the severity of alcohol dependence increased, sexual dysfunction levels also increased. No significant correlation was found between the Toronto Alexithymia Scale score and the Golombok-Rust Sexual Satisfaction Scale total score and the Arizona Sexual Experiences Scale score of the participants in the alcohol addicted group. As the depression levels of alcohol-dependent individuals increased, the level of sexual dysfunction increased significantly. It was found that as the anxiety levels of alcohol addicted individuals increased, their sexual dysfunction levels also increased. In the Alcohol addicted individuvals one point increase in the age leads to 0.26 times increase in Golombock-Rust Scale, increase in the anxiety levels by one point leads to 0.4 times increase in Golombock-Rust Scale. Also in alcohol addicted group one point increase in Severty Of Alcohol Dependance Questionnaire Scale leads to 0.37 point increase in Arizona Sexual Experiances scale. In healthy individuvals one point increase in Toronto Alexythymia Scale leads to 0.31 times increase in Golombock Rust Scale, also one point increase in Beck Depression Scale leads to 0.36 times increase in Golombock Rust Scale. Also in healthy individuvals one point increase in Toronto Alexhythimia Scale leads to 0.28 times increase in Arizona Sexual Experiances Scale Conclusion: Depressed and anxious mood, alexithymia, alcohol use and other substance use are important determinants of sexual risk behavior. Knowledge of the psychosocial and contextual factors that lead to these conditions is needed to develop and target effective prevention strategies specifically tailored to alcohol-dependent individuals. Effect of alcohol on sexual function has been studied and alcohol has shown to be decreasing sexual function in a dose dependent fashion. Our study is first known study to compare the effects of alcohol on depression, anxiety level, alexithymia, sexual dysfunction and sexual satisfaction in male patients with healty controls in multifactorial manner. This is the first study in this context in Turkey and will make important contributions to literature.