Prevalence of alexithymia and its association with burn out among medical field students at Umm Al-Qura University in Saudi Arabia

Background/Aim: Alexithymia is the sub clinical inability to recognize and describe one's feelings. In the medical field, students often become emotionally blind when dealing with the difficulties of their studies, which can lead to burnout syndrome. This study's purpose is to assess prevalence of alexithymia and its association with burnout among medical field students at Umm Al-Qura University (UQU), Saudi Arabia. Methodology: A cross sectional survey of medical field students at UQU was conducted to assess the prevalence of alexithymia using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and academic burnout, measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory. T-tests were run to assess specialties and gender differences. Result: A total of 387 medical field students completed the study questionnaire. The prevalence of alexithymia among medical field students was 36.7% and alexithymia was detected among 42.2% of female students compared with 30.4% of male students (P=0.033). A significant relation was found between alexithymia among medical field students at UQU and their burnout (P=0.001). Conclusions: One third of the study participants may have alexithymia. Given the important association between burnout and alexithymia, increasing awareness of alexithymia and providing self improvement programs for burnout prevention is highly recommended.