Comparison of Automatic Thoughts and Alexithymia with Anxiety in People with Hypertension and People without Hypertension in Zanjan

Hypertension is exacerbated by mental illness such as anxiety. The aim of this study was to compare automatic thoughts and alexithymia with anxiety in people with hypertension and people without hypertension in Zanjan in 2019.

The method of the present study was descriptive-comparative. The statistical population of this study included all people with hypertension and people without hypertension in Zanjan in 2019. For sampling, 5 health centers were randomly selected by lottery and from these 5 bases, 126 people (63 people with hypertension and 63 people without hypertension) were non-random quota method selected and entered the study. Data were collected using demographic questionnaires, Sphygmomanometer, "Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire", "Toronto Alexithymia Scale" and "Beck Anxiety Inventory". The validity of the instruments was limited to previous studies. The reliability of the instruments was confirmed by internal consistency method by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Data were analyzed in SPSS. 24.

With the increase of automatic thoughts and alexithymia, the level of anxiety in both groups increases (P-Value <0.05). There was no significant difference between people with hypertension and those without hypertension in terms of their mean thoughts and their components and anxiety (P-Value <0.05). Also, in terms of the average of alexithymia, there is no significant difference between people with hypertension and people without hypertension; except for the externally oriented thinking component in which people without hypertension have a higher mean (P-Value <0.05). 

Automatic thoughts and alexithymia (a component of difficulty identifying feelings) are positively related to anxiety in the group of people with hypertension. It is suggested that psychology training classes be held for people with hypertension to control and reduce automatic thoughts and alexithymia.