Alexithymia, type A behaviour and bulimia nervosa

Abstract

This paper studies the prevalence of alexithymia and type A behaviour among women with bulimia nervosa and the psychometric relations between these two psychological constructs. A group of 35 patients selected according to DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria was evaluated using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) and the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) and compared with a matched control group of healthy women. Bulimic patients scored signi®cantly higher than controls in alexithymia and in I and II TAS factors, and in speed/impatience and hard-driving style. Type A prevalence was similar in both groups and overall results suggest that alexithymia and type A behaviour are heterogeneous psychological constructs.

Alexithymia and eating disorders: a critical review of the literature

“…This differentiation is important in order to further test Rozenstein and colleagues’ [ 56 ] suggestions regarding the differential influence of depression on alexithymia in patients who restrict versus patients who engage in bingeing and purging behaviors. Furthermore, with the exception of a few studies [ 5 , 32 , 36 , 41 ], most studies do not report comorbid diagnoses for participants, thus failing to differentiate between subclinical depressive and anxiety symptoms and comorbid major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders. Given the potential identified role of depression and anxiety in alexithymia symptoms, this important information should be included in future studies in order to better understand the role of anxiety and depression in alexithymia.…”

Dimensions of emotion dysregulation in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: A conceptual review of the empirical literature

“…In contrast, there has been somewhat less research on emotion recognition in BN. A majority of the relevant research in BN suggests greater alexithymia compared to controls (e.g., Corcos et al, 2000; Jimerson, Wolfe, Franko, Covino, & Sifneos, 1994; Nowakowski et al, 2013; Sureda, Valdes, Jodar, & de Pablo, 1999), although results are less consistent when controlling for depression and/or anxiety (e.g., Eizaguirre et al, 2004; Gilboa-Schechtman et al, 2006; Montebarocci et al, 2006; Rozenstein et al, 2011; Speranza et al, 2005). In contrast, findings on emotional awareness have been more consistent, suggesting deficits in BN versus controls (Brockmeyer et al, 2014; Bydlowski et al, 2005 [mixed ED sample]; Harrison et al, 2010; Legenbauer, Vocks, & Ruddel, 2008; Sim & Zeman, 2004; Svaldi et al, 2012).…”

Alexithymia and eating disorders: a critical review of the literature

“…Across studies, significantly more eating disorder patients are categorized as alexithymic compared to healthy community controls [4,5,8,[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. When examining alexithymia as a continuous measure, studies have shown that individuals with eating disorders have higher total alexithymia scores as well as higher scores on two out of three factors: 1) Difficulties identifying feelings and differentiating between feelings and bodily sensations, and 2) Difficulties describing feelings [2,4,5,[24][25][26][27][28][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43]. Studies have generally not reported differences between individuals with eating disorders and healthy community controls on externally oriented thinking (but see [30,42]), although this may be a reflection of the poor internal consistency for the externally oriented thinking factor.…”

“…This differentiation is important in order to further test Rozenstein and colleagues' [56] suggestions regarding the differential influence of depression on alexithymia in patients who restrict versus patients who engage in bingeing and purging behaviors. Furthermore, with the exception of a few studies [5,32,36,41], most studies do not report comorbid diagnoses for participants, thus failing to differentiate between subclinical depressive and anxiety symptoms and comorbid major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders. Given the potential identified role of depression and anxiety in alexithymia symptoms, this important information should be included in future studies in order to better understand the role of anxiety and depression in alexithymia.…”