Alexithymia in the interpersonal domain: A general deficit of empathy?

Grynberg, Delphine; Luminet, Olivier; Corneille, Olivier; Grèzes, Julie; Berthoz, Sylvie

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.07.013

Cited by 209 publications

(207 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(26 reference statements)

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“…to predict greater endorsement for the utilitarian solution on personal dilemma due to greater empathizing with the many 78 -who would die in case of inaction -this is not observed because the utilitarian course of action features causal intervention on an identifiable and singular victim 80 that needs to be sacrificed and thus the other set of victims are pushed to the background in the causal model and does not elicit a robust empathic response 81,82 . Additionally, we note that although autism is associated with increased personal distress even after accounting for co-occurring alexithymia 64 , trait alexithymia itself is also associated with greater personal distress but this association seems to be due to prevalent anxiety and is not characteristic of the alexithymic phenotype 33 . Additionally, we expected there to be a negative correlation between intelligence measure and utilitarian moral judgments in ASD representing rigid rule-based norm abidance, but we were agnostic as to which component of IQ (verbal or non-verbal) would be implicated as a compensatory strategy and made this decision based on the exploratory correlation analysis.…”

Section: Text Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…Although the preponderance rate of clinical levels of alexithymia in healthy population is at 10%, it is unusually prevalent (40-65%) in adults and children with ASD [28][29][30][31][32] . Therefore, it is important to account for its effects in emotional processing deficits observed in ASD, especially because trait alexithymia itself has been associated with impaired emotional processing (e.g., empathy [33][34][35] , emotion regulation 36 , emotional interoception 37 , etc.). Thus, it is likely that, when observed, the emotional processing deficits in ASD are due to the presence of elevated levels of alexithymia.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Divergent roles of autistic and alexithymic traits in utilitarian moral judgments in adults with autism

Patil¹,

Melsbach²,

Hennig-Fast³

et al. 2017

Preprint

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This study investigated hypothetical moral choices in adults with high-functioning autism and the role of empathy and alexithymia in such choices. We used a highly emotionally salient moral dilemma task to investigate autistics' hypothetical moral evaluations about personally carrying out harmful utilitarian behaviours aimed at maximizing welfare. Results showed that they exhibited a normal pattern of moral judgments despite the deficits in social cognition and emotional processing. Further analyses revealed that this was due to mutually conflicting biases associated with autistic and alexithymic traits after accounting for shared variance: (a) autistic traits were associated with reduced utilitarian bias due to elevated personal distress of demanding social situations, while (b) alexithymic traits were associated with increased utilitarian bias on account of reduced empathic concern for the victim. Additionally, autistics relied on their non-verbal reasoning skills to rigidly abide by harm-norms. Thus, utilitarian moral judgments in autism were spared due to opposite influences of autistic and alexithymic traits and compensatory intellectual strategies. These findings demonstrate the importance of empathy and alexithymia in autistic moral cognition and have methodological implications for studying moral judgments in several other clinical populations.

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Section: Text Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 64%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Divergent roles of autistic and alexithymic traits in utilitarian moral judgments in adults with autism

Patil¹,

Melsbach²,

Hennig-Fast³

et al. 2017

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Self-acceptance has been the most frequently mentioned criterion of well-being and is closely related to mental health (Ryff, 1989). Furthermore, previous studies have indicated that personal distress is closely related with depression (O'Connor, Berry, Weiss, & Gilbert, 2002;Thoma, Zalewski, von Reventlow, Norra, Juckel, & Daum, 2011), neuroticism (Bartholow, Sestir, & Davis, 2005;Lee, 2009), and alexithymia (Grynberg, Luminet, Corneille, Grèzes, & Berthoz 2010). Taken together, personal distress is thought to be an effective indicator of mental health.…”

Section: Effect Of Personal Distress On Psychological Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships between Trait Empathy and Psychological Well-Being in Japanese University Students

Choi¹,

Minote²,

Sekiya³

et al. 2016

PSYCH

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The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) is a commonly used instrument for measuring individual differences in trait empathy. It is composed of the following four subscales: Perspective taking; fantasy; empathic concern; and personal distress. Previous studies have reported finding a positive relationship between psychological well-being and perspective taking, but little remains known about the association between psychological well-being and the other IRI subscales. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the degree to which each IRI subscale could predict psychological well-being, which was measured using Ryff's Psychological Well-Being Scales, in 119 Japanese undergraduate and graduate students (43 females, 76 males; mean age: 22 years; age range: 19 -25 years). Regression analysis revealed that perspective taking positively predicted personal growth, purpose in life, and environmental mastery, while personal distress negatively predicted autonomy, environmental mastery, and self-acceptance. Neither fantasy nor empathic concern predicted psychological well-being. These results support those found in previous studies, and suggest that perspective taking, a cognitive component of empathy, plays an important role in the improvement of psychological well-being.

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“…Örneğin empati kapasitelerinin oldukça zayıf olduğu ileri sürülen bu bireylerde, akut duygusal aksaklıkların yanında, bilişsel alanda da önemli zayıflık görüldüğü ileri sürülmekte-dir. [4,21] Hatta bazı araştırmalar aleksitimik kişilerin, engelleyici uyku apnesi sendromundakine benzer bilişsel kısıtlılıklar gösterdiklerini ortaya koymuş-tur. [22] Aleksitimik özellikler bize aynı zamanda yaygın gelişimsel bozukluklardan Asperger ve fonksiyonel Otizmi anımsatmaktadır.…”

Section: S Psikiyatride Güncel Yaklaşımlar -Current Approaches In Psyunclassified

The Concept of Alexithymia

Şaşıoğlu¹,

Gülol²,

Tosun³

2013

Psikiyatride Guncel Yaklasimlar - Current Approaches in Psychia

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ÖZET"Duygular için söz yokluğu" anlamına gelen ve psikiyatri çevrelerince hızla kabul görmüş bir kavram olan aleksitimi, başlangıçta psikosomatik hastalardaki belirtileri açıklamak için ortaya atılmıştır. Ancak güncel çalışmalar aleksitiminin birçok farklı patolojik grupta ve hatta sağlıklı popülasyonda da karşımı-za çıkan bir kişilik özelliği olabileceğini ortaya koymuştur. Bu noktada aleksitimi kavramının var olan yapı ve tanılardan ayrılması ve gerek kuramsal gerekse ölçümsel anlamda güvenirlik ve geçerliğine yönelik soru işaretlerinin ortadan kalkması için birçok araştırma yapılmıştır. Bu kuramsal derleme çalışma-sında da, kavram üzerinde süre giden tartışmaların günümüzde ne noktada olduğu sorusuna yanıt aranmaktadır. Bu bağlamda, aleksitimi kavramı; özel-likleri, kuramsal temelleri, diğer bozukluklarla ilişkisi ve ölçümü boyutlarında incelenmekte; hem ölçüme hem de kavrama yönelik eleştiriler ele alınmıştır. Anahtar Sözcükler: Aleksitimi, patoloji, nörofizyoloji, psikanaliz. ABSTRACTThe concept of alexithymia, which means "no words for emotions", emerged in order to explain the symptoms of psychosomatic patients and gained a quick recognition among psychiatrists. However, current studies indicate that alexithymia may be a personality trait seen both in different pathological groups and even in healthy population. At this point, many researches have been made in order to distinguish alexithymia from existing constructs and diagnosis, and to remove the questions on reliability and validity of the concept and its measurement. Ongoing discussions on alexithymia will be reviewed in this study. The controversial concept of alexithymia will be examined in terms of characteristics, theoretical background, relationship with the other disorders, measurement and the critique of the measurement and the concept.

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Alexithymia in the interpersonal domain: A general deficit of empathy?

Cited by 209 publications

References 28 publications

Divergent roles of autistic and alexithymic traits in utilitarian moral judgments in adults with autism

Divergent roles of autistic and alexithymic traits in utilitarian moral judgments in adults with autism

Relationships between Trait Empathy and Psychological Well-Being in Japanese University Students

The Concept of Alexithymia

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