Search results for " alexithymia"
showing 10 items of 25 documents
Emotional expression and coping style in female breast cancer.
2007
Background: The study of the relationship of emotional status and tumor etiology has been investigated in order to elaborate a multifactorial model able to provide an answer integrating the different disciplines on cancer. The aim of this work is to investigate the knowledge on the alexithymia construct, exploring the presence of such trait in women affected by mammary carcinoma and analyzing the used coping strategies. The study has also examined personal thoughts related to event control (locus of control). Method: The Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced, and Locus of Control questionnaires were administered to a group of 86 women aged 31-55 years (mean =…
Emotion dysregulation in hypochondriasis and depression
2017
Background The aim of this study was to explore whether certain aspects of emotion dysregulation (i.e., facets of alexithymia and rumination) are more closely linked to hypochondriasis than to depression and vice versa. Methods Nineteen patients with hypochondriasis (HYP), 33 patients with depression, and 52 healthy control participants completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, the Response Styles Questionnaire, and additional symptom and illness behaviour scales. A clinical interview was used to establish DSM-IV diagnoses and to exclude all cases with more than one axis I diagnosis. Results Depression patients reported more difficulties describing feelings and more symptom- and self-focused…
Prevalence of alexithymia in eating disorders in a clinical sample of 800 Mexican patients.
2019
The inability to identify, express feelings, and not distinguish between emotions and bodily sensations, is known as alexithymia. In 1988, it developed The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), consists of 20 items and three factors: a) difficulty of identifying feelings and differences between feelings and bodily sensations; b) difficulty of describing feelings; and c) externally oriented thinking. It's considered that people with eating disorders have specific deficits in identify and communicate their feelings.The present study has as purpose to the instrument validation.It was a cross-sectional study and psychometric character design of a single sample, formed of 435 persons suffering eat…
Alexithymia and Adult Attachment: Investigating the Mediating Role of Fear of Intimacy and Negative Mood Regulation Expectancies
2021
Literature suggests an association between alexithymia and insecure adult attachment, but the mediation factors involved in this relationship are under-investigated. The study was carried out to test the possible mediation roles of the fear of intimacy and negative mood regulation expectancies in explaining this relationship. A convenience sample of 258 Polish adults (mean age: 30; 45% male), completed self-reporting measures related to adult attachment (RAAS), alexithymia (TAS-20), fear of intimacy (FIS) and negative mood regulation expectancies (NMRE). The results showed that alexithymia directly and indirectly predicts insecure adult attachment. Alexithymia positively predicts the fear …
Cross validation of the factor structure of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale: An Italian multicenter study
1996
The 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) has been shown in previous research to measure a general dimension of alexithymia with three intercorrelated factors. This study evaluated the reliability and factorial validity of an Italian translation of the TAS-20 in a group of normal adults (N = 206) and in a mixed group of medical and psychiatric outpatients (N = 642). Using confirmatory factor analyses, the previously established three-factor model of the TAS-20 was found to be replicable in both groups. In addition, the Italian TAS-20 demonstrated adequate estimates of internal reliability and test-retest reliability. Although evaluation of the convergent, discriminant, and concurrent v…
Brief assessment of subjective health complaints: Development, validation and population norms of a brief form of the Giessen Subjective Complaints L…
2017
Abstract Objective Although there is no causal relationship to medical morbidity, routine clinical assessment of somatic symptoms aids medical diagnosis and assessment of treatment effectiveness. Regardless of their causes, somatic symptoms indicate suffering, distress, and help-seeking behavior. The aim of the present study was to develop and validate a brief self-report questionnaire to assess somatic symptom strain. Methods A brief form of the Giessen Subjective Complaints List (GBB-8) was developed and validated in a large population sample representative of the Federal Republic of Germany ( N = 2008). Psychometric analyses included confirmation of factor structure, classical item anal…
Alexithymia and facial emotion recognition in patients with eating disorders
2006
Objective: Patients with anorexia or bulimia nervosa are reported to show high levels of alexithymia and to have difficulties recognizing facially displayed emotions. The current study tested whether it could be that facial emotion recognition is a basic skill that is independent from alexithymia. Method: We assessed emotion recognition skills and alexithymia in a group of 79 female inpatients with eating disorders and compared them with a group of 78 healthy female controls. Instruments used were the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, the Facially Expressed Emotion Labeling (FEEL) test, and the revised Symptom Check List (SCL-90-R). Results: There were no significant differences between patients a…
Alterations in the Emotional Regulation Process in Gambling Addiction: The Role of Anger and Alexithymia
2017
This study aims at the assessment of alexithymia and anger levels in 100 treatment-seeking pathological gamblers compared with controls, who were matched for age, gender and education. Furthermore a positive correlation between alexithymia, anger and severity of gambling disorder and a relationship between gambling behaviour and anger after controlling for alexithymia, are investigated. Finally the role that gender plays in anger in pathological gamblers was also evaluated. Psychological assessment includes the South Oaks Gambling Screen, State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 and the twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Statistical analysis of the results shows a higher level of anger …
Alexithymic characteristics in pediatric patients with primary headache: a comparison between migraine and tension-type headache
2015
Background: Alexithymia is a personality construct characterized by difficulties in verbal emotional expression and a limited ability to use one’s imagination. Evidence of alexithymic characteristics was found in adults suffering from headache, while little is known about children. The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of alexithymia in two different subgroups of children and adolescents suffering from primary headache. We also looked for correlation between alexithymia in children and in their mothers. Methods: This study involved 89 participants: 47 (11 males, 36 females, aged 8 to 17 years) suffering from tension-type headache (TTH), and 42 (18 males, 24 females, aged 8 t…
Interoceptive Abilities in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and Irritable Bowel Syndrome
2020
International audience; Alexithymia is usually described by three main dimensions difficulty identifying feelings (DIF), difficulty describing feelings (DDF), and externally oriented thinking (EOT). The most commonly used questionnaire investigating alexithymia, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), supports this three-factor structure. One important assumption is that alexithymia severity is associated to vulnerability to somatic diseases, among them gastrointestinal disorders. However, the association between alexithymia and gastrointestinal disorders is not systematic, thus questioning the role of alexithymia as a vulnerability factor for those illnesses. A recent factor analysis sugge…