Alexithymia is linked to neurocognitive, psychological, neuroendocrine, and immune dysfunction in persons living with HIV

McIntosh, Roger C.; Ironson, Gail; Antoni, Mike; Kumar, Mahendra; Fletcher, Mary A; Schneiderman, Neil

doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2013.10.024

Cited by 31 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 112 publications

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“…Outliers in all measures and EAR codes were winsorized to 2.5 standard deviations from the mean to limit the influence of extreme values (Barnett & Lewis, 1994; McIntosh et al, 2014; Wilcox, 1998). Winsorizing is a common strategy utilized to reduce the influence of possible spurious outliers, particularly in a relatively small sample such as this one (Hansen, Vaughan, Cavanaugh, Connell, & Sikkema, 2009; Madlensky et al, 2008).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Naturalistically observed conflict and youth asthma symptoms.

et al. 2015

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Objective To investigate the links between naturalistically-observed conflict, self-reported caregiver-youth conflict, and youth asthma symptoms. Method Fifty-four youth with asthma (aged 10-17) wore the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) for a 4-day period to assess interpersonal conflict and caregiver-youth conflict as they occur in daily life. Conflict also was assessed with baseline self-report questionnaires and daily diaries completed by the youth participants and their caregiver. Asthma symptoms were assessed via daily diaries and baseline self-reports and wheezing as coded from the EAR. Results EAR-observed measures of conflict were strongly associated with self-reported asthma symptoms (both baseline and daily diaries) and wheezing coded from the EAR. Further, when entered together in regression analyses, youth daily reports of negative caregiver-youth interactions and EAR-observed conflict uniquely predicted asthma symptoms; only EAR-observed conflict was associated with EAR-observed wheezing. Conclusions These findings demonstrate the potential impact of daily conflict on youth asthma symptoms and the importance of assessing conflict as it occurs in everyday life. More broadly, they point to the importance of formulating a clear picture of family interactions outside of the lab, which is essential for understanding how family relationships “get under the skin” to affect youth health.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Naturalistically observed conflict and youth asthma symptoms.

et al. 2015

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“…In a recent study, McIntosh et al (2014) noted that alexithymic participants living with HIV had significantly higher levels of norepinephrine (NE) as well as an elevated NE/Cortisol ratio. Their model suggested that the DIFF factor score was the strongest predictor of a greater NE/Cortisol ratio.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, Härtwig et al (2013) noted that alexithymic individuals have a lower cortisol awakening response (CAR), this parameter is a valid measure of basal HPA-system activity and considered as an anticipatory reaction to the challenges of the oncoming day (Clow et al 2010;Kudielka and Wüst, 2010). According to McIntosh et al (2014), alexithymia also appears to be linked to an increased noradrenergic activity; as well as to Page 7 of 35 A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t 7 an elevated Norepinephrine/Cortisol ratio. These authors reported that the DIFF score was the strongest predictor of a greater Norepinephrine/Cortisol ratio.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global stress response during a social stress test: Impact of alexithymia and its subfactors

Hua

Scanff

Larue

et al. 2014

Psychoneuroendocrinology

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Please cite this article as: Hua, J., Le Scanff, C., Larue, J., José, F., Martin, J.-C., Devillers, L., Filaire, E.,Global stress response during a social stress test: impact of alexithymia and its subfactors, Psychoneuroendocrinology (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10. 1016/j.psyneuen.2014.08.003 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Page 1 of 35A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t Highlights  We study the association between alexithymia and its subfactors with HPA and SAM activity.  Stress was induced experimentally using a public-speaking paradigm.  The increased HPA activity was related to only one alexithymia subfactor, DIFF.Page 2 Summary:Objectives: Alexithymia is a personality trait characterized by difficulties in identifying, describing and communicating one's own emotions. Recent studies have associated specific effects of this trait and its subfactors with hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis markers during stress. The aim of this study was to analyze the association between alexithymia and its subfactors with HPA and sympatho-adrenal medullar (SAM) activity. Stress was induced experimentally using a public-speaking paradigm. Salivary cortisol, Alpha-amylase (AA), chromogranin A (CgA) and heart rate (HR) were collected during the defined periods of baseline, stress, and recovery in 19 males and 24 female healthy university students.Results: Subjects reacted to the stressor with a significant cortisol and SAM response. Subjects scoring high on alexithymia reacted significantly more intensely than low scorers in basal anticipatory as well as peak cortisol and area under the curve. Regression analyses revealed that the increased HPA activity was related to only one alexithymia subfactor, the difficulty in differentiating feelings and distinguishing them from bodily sensations and emotion arousal.Conclusion: Alexithymia and its subfactors were specifically related to cortisol responses. This research should be replicated with more subjects and should take into account more parameters reflecting sympathetic and/or parasympathetic activation, as well as HPA axis. Factors such as coping strategies and the perception of the situation as a challenge have also to be explored.

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“…This study suggests that this process is through a person's disharmony between the self and experience and the self-stereotype. For patients with OCD, a failure to regulate emotions cognitively over a long period of time may cause a pronounced ego-dystonic experience, leading to deregulations of the autonomic nervous system and the neuroendocrine systems [46,47], an imbalance between goaldirected and habitual action and inhibition [48][49][50][51], or a dissociation between confidence (updated knowledge) and action [52], ultimately leading to OC behavior. In heathy individuals, this process may not be as severe and may be reversible, because the systems of inhibition and the emotion-regulation are more intact.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alexithymia, Ego-Dystonicity, and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms: A Path Modeling Analysis

Shi

Dong

et al. 2018

Psychopathology

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Aims: This cross-sectional study aimed to test the path relations between alexithymia, ego-dystonicity, anxiety, depression and obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and healthy individuals. Methods: Fifty-eight patients with OCD (mean age 35.5 years) and 54 healthy participants (mean age 33.5 years) completed an assessment via a structured clinical interview. All of them completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Vancouver Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (VOCI), the Self-Consistency and Congruence Scale (SCCS), the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Results: In the OCD patients, alexithymia (a linear combination of difficulty identifying and describing emotions in the self) was associated with the OC symptoms either with or without the presence of ego-dystonicity (a profile of self-inconsistency and self-stereotype). In the heathy participants, alexithymia was associated with the OC symptoms only through ego-dystonic experiences. Conclusion: This study provides evidence that ego-dystonicity partially affects the association between alexithymia and obsessive-compulsions. Alexithymia and ego-dystonicity have a synergistic effect on the symptoms of OCD. Alexithymia in healthy participants associates to the OC symptoms only through ego-dystonicity. Targeting ego-dystonicity dimensions in psychotherapy would help improve the symptoms of OCD.

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Alexithymia is linked to neurocognitive, psychological, neuroendocrine, and immune dysfunction in persons living with HIV

Cited by 31 publications

References 112 publications

Naturalistically observed conflict and youth asthma symptoms.

Naturalistically observed conflict and youth asthma symptoms.

Global stress response during a social stress test: Impact of alexithymia and its subfactors

Alexithymia, Ego-Dystonicity, and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms: A Path Modeling Analysis

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