Alexithymia and Forgiveness Levels of Forensic Psychiatric Patients


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Polat H., Asi Karakaş S., Ercel S., Tasci G.

JOURNAL OF PSYCHOSOCIAL NURSING AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES, cilt.62, sa.6, ss.27-35, 2024 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

Özet

The current cross-sectional study was performed to examine levels of alexithymia and forgiveness in forensic psychiatric patients. Data were collected between March 2022 and August 2022 at a high-security forensic psychiatric hospital affili-ated with a city hospital in Turkey. A personal information form prepared by the researchers, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, and the Heartland Forgiveness Scale were used to obtain data. Participants comprised 132 forensic psychiatric patients who agreed to participate in the study. A significant negative correlation was found between alexithymia and forgiveness levels of participants (p < 0.01, r= -0.259). In other words, as alexithymia levels increased, participants were found to be less forgiving. In addition, results suggest that forensic psychiatric patients are suscep-tible to alexithymia and higher levels of forgiveness. Determining forgiveness and alexithymia levels of forensic psychiatric patients will contribute to the structuring of care to be offered to these patients. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, xx(xx), xx-xx.]