Abstract
Alexithymia comprises both a cognitive and an affective deficit in the way that some individuals recognize and communicate emotional states (Krystal 1979, 1982; Taylor 1984). The construct of alexithymia includes the following four main features: (1) difficulty identifying and describing subjective feelings, (2) trouble differentiating between feelings and the physical sensations of emotional arousal, (3) limited imaginative processes, and (4) an externally-oriented cognitive style. Overall, research indicates that alexithymia is a multi-dimensional deficit in affect recognition and regulation. The ability to process emotions is normally distributed in the population and high scores on measures of alexithymia may represent the lower end of this ability. Overall, research shows that alexithymia is associated with low levels of positive well-being, including low levels of happiness and life satisfaction.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bagby, R. M., Quilty, L. C., Taylor, G. J., Grabe, H. J., Luminet, O., Verissimo, R., et al. (2009). Are there subtypes of alexithymia? Personality and Individual Differences, 47, 413–418.
Bermond, B., Vorst, H. C. M., Vingerhoets, A. J. J. M., & Gerritsen, W. (1999). The Amsterdam Alexithymia scale: Its psychometric values and correlations with other personality traits. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 68, 241–251.
Bermond, B., Clayton, K., Liberova, A., Luminet, O., Maruszewski, T., Bitti, P. E. R., et al. (2007). A cognitive and an affective dimension of alexithymia in six languages and seven populations. Cognition and Emotion, 21, 1125–1136.
Campanella, S., Falbo, L., Rossignol, M., Grynberg, D., Balconi, M., Verbank, P., et al. (2012). Sex differences on emotional processing are modulated by subclinical levels of alexithymia and depression: A preliminary assessment using event-related potentials. Psychiatry Research, 197, 145–153.
Carpenter, K. M., & Addis, M. E. (2000). Alexithymia, gender and responses to depressive symptoms. Sex Roles, 43, 629–644.
Chen, J., Xu, T., Jing, J., & Chan, R. C. K. (2011). Alexithymia and emotional regulation: A cluster analytical approach. BMC Psychiatry, 11, 1–6.
Connelly, M., & Denney, D. R. (2007). Regulation of emotions during experimental stress in alexithymia. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 62, 649–656.
Czernecka, K., & Szymura, B. (2008). Alexithymia–imagination–creativity. Personality and Individual Differences, 45, 445–450.
de M’Uzan, M. (1974). Psychodynamic mechanisms in psychosomatic symptom formation. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 23, 103–110.
Grabe, H. J., Spitzer, C., & Freyberger, H. J. (2001). Alexithymia and the temperament and character model of personality. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 70, 261–267.
Grynberg, D., Luminet, O., Corneille, O., Grèzes, J., & Berthoz, S. (2010). Alexithymia in the interpersonal domain: A general deficit of empathy? Personality and Individual Differences, 49, 845–850.
Helmes, E., McNeill, P. D., Holden, R. R., & Jackson, C. (2008). The construct of alexithymia: Associations with defense mechanisms. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 64, 318–331.
Krystal, H. (1979). Alexithymia and psychotherapy. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 33, 17–31.
Krystal, H. (1982). Alexithymia and the effectiveness of psychoanalytic treatment. International Journal of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, 9, 353–378.
Lumley, M. A., & Bazydlo, R. A. (2000). The relationship of alexithymia characteristics to dreaming. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 48, 561–567.
Lumley, M. A., Ovies, T., Stettner, L., Wehmer, F., & Lakey, B. (1996). Alexithymia, social support and health problems. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 41, 519–530.
Mattila, A. K., Keefer, K. V., Taylor, G. J., Joukamaa, M., Jula, A., Parker, J. D. A., et al. (2010). Taxometric analysis of alexithymia in a general population sample from Finland. Personality and Individual Differences, 49, 216–221.
McDougall, J. (1982). Alexithymia, psychosomatosis, and psychosis. International Journal of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, 9, 379–388.
Messina, A., Fogliani, A. M., & Paradiso, S. (2010). Association between alexithymia, neuroticism, and social desirability scores among Italian graduate students. Psychological Reports, 107, 185–192.
Moormann, P. P., Bermond, B., Vorst, H. C. M., Bloemendaal, A. F. T., Teijn, S. M., & Rood, L. (2008). New avenues in alexithymia research: The creation of alexithymia types. In A. Vingerhoets, I. Nyklíček, J. Denollet, A. Vingerhoets, I. Nyklíček, & J. Denollet (Eds.), Emotion regulation: Conceptual and clinical issues (pp. 27–42). New York: Springer Science + Business Media.
Moriguchi, Y., Decety, J., Ohnishi, T., Maeda, M., Mori, T., Nemoto, K., et al. (2007). Empathy and judging other’s pain: An fMRI study of alexithymia. Cerebral Cortex, 17, 2223–2234.
Moriguchi, Y., Ohnishi, T., Decety, J., Hirakata, M., Maeda, M., Matsuda, H., et al. (2009). The human mirror neuron system in a population with deficient self-awareness: An fMRI study in alexithymia. Human Brain Mapping, 30, 2063–2076.
Nemiah, J. C., & Sifneos, P. E. (1970). Psychosomatic illness: A problem in communication. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 18, 154–160.
Nemiah, J. C., Freyberger, H., & Sifneos, P. E. (1976). Alexithymia: A view of the psychosomatic process. In O. W. Hill (Ed.), Modern trends in psychosomatic medicine (Vol. 3, pp. 430–439). London: Butterworths.
Nielsen, T., Levrier, K., & Montplaisir, J. (2011). Dreaming correlates of alexithymia among sleep-disordered patients. Dreaming, 21, 16–31.
Parker, J. D. A., Bauermann, T. M., & Smith, C. T. (2000). Alexithymia and impoverished dream content: Evidence from rapid eye movement sleep awakenings. Psychosomatic Medicine, 62, 486–491.
Parker, J. D. A., Keefer, K. V., Taylor, G. J., & Bagby, R. M. (2008). Latent structure of the alexithymia construct: A taxometric investigation. Psychological Assessment, 20, 385–396.
Prkachin, G. C., Casey, C., & Prkachin, K. M. (2009). Alexithymia and perception of facial expressions of emotion. Personality and Individual Differences, 46, 412–417.
Sifneos, P. E. (1973). The prevalence of ‘alexithymic’ characteristics in psychosomatic patients. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 22, 255–262.
Taylor, G. J. (1984). Alexithymia: Concept, measurement, and implications for treatment. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 725–732.
Taylor, G. J., Bagby, R. M., & Parker, J. D. A. (1991). The alexithymia construct: A potential paradigm for psychosomatic medicine. Psychosomatics: Journal of Consultation Liaison Psychiatry, 32, 153–164.
Taylor, G. J., Bagby, R. M., & Parker, J. D. A. (1997). Disorders of affect regulation: Alexithymia in medical and psychiatric illness. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Vanheule, S., Desmet, M., Meganck, R., & Bogaerts, S. (2007). Alexithymia and interpersonal problems. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 63, 109–117.
Vermeulen, N., Luminet, O., de Sousa, M. C., & Campanella, S. (2008). Categorical perception of anger is disrupted in alexithymia: Evidence from a visual ERP study. Cognition and Emotion, 22, 1052–1067.
Vorst, H. C. M., & Bermond, B. (2001). Validity and reliability of the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 413–434.
Wagner, H., & Lee, V. (2008). Alexithymia and individual differences in emotional expression. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 83–95.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Timoney, L.R., Holder, M.D. (2013). Definition of Alexithymia. In: Emotional Processing Deficits and Happiness. SpringerBriefs in Well-Being and Quality of Life Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7177-2_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7177-2_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-7176-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-7177-2
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)