Describe Your Feelings: Body Illusion Related to Alexithymia in Adolescence

Abstract

Objective: Having access to bodily signals is known to be crucial for differentiating the self from others and coping with negative feelings. The interplay between bodily and emotional processes develops in adolescence, where vulnerability is high, as negative affect states often occur, that could hamper the integration of bodily input into the self. Aim of the present study in healthy adolescents was to examine, whether a disturbed emotional awareness, described by the alexithymic construct, could trigger a higher malleability in the sense of body-ownership.Methods: Fifty-four healthy adolescents aged between 12 to 17 years participated in this study. The Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the Screening psychischer Störungen im Jugendalter were used to assess emotional distress and conduct problems. Alexithymia was assessed by the TAS-20. The rubber hand illusion was implemented for examining the malleability of body-ownership.Results: A higher body illusion was found to be connected with “difficulties in describing feelings”. Moreover, a higher degree of self-reported conduct and emotional problems as assessed by the SDQ were associated with a more pronounced body illusion. Further findings revealed an association between emotional distress and the emotional alexithymia subscales “difficulties in identifying feelings” and “difficulties in describing feelings”.Conclusion: Our findings emphasize a close link between the sense of body-ownership and emotional awareness as assessed by emotional facets of the alexithymic trait. We suggest that in adolescents with higher malleability of body-ownership, a vicious circle might occur where affect and integration of different proprioceptive signals regarding the body become more entangled.

The effects of subliminal or supraliminal sadness induction on the sense of body ownership and the role of dissociative symptoms

“…A body of research has demonstrated that the way emotions are processed and experienced also has an impact on the sense of body ownership. To name one example, higher scores in an alexithymia questionnaire were associated with a stronger illusion in a study with adolescents 10 . Hence, differences in emotion experience could influence the relationship of emotions and sense of body ownership.…”

Alexithymia and Sensory Processing Sensitivity: Areas of Overlap and Links to Sensory Processing Styles

“…Research generally supports this idea, although the direction of effects is mixed, with some studies linking alexithymia to exaggerated neural, physiological, or behavioral responses to exteroceptive or body-based cues (e.g., Sivik, 1993 ; Nyklicek and Vingerhoets, 2000 ; Schafer et al, 2007 ; Bogdanov et al, 2013 ) and others linking it to reduced responsiveness (e.g., Pollatos et al, 2008 ; Goerlich-Dobre et al, 2014b ; Gaigg et al, 2018 ). Alexithymia is also associated with atypicalities in multisensory integration, although the direction of the effects has varied (see Miles et al, 2011 ; Thakkar et al, 2011 ; Cascio et al, 2012 ; Germine et al, 2013 ; Grynberg and Pollatos, 2015 ; Georgiou et al, 2016 ). The mixed results from studies in this area could reflect the fact that researchers have not typically considered in their study designs the possibility that there may be subtypes of individuals with alexithymia who generate, experience, and regulate their emotions in different ways.…”

How Do Self‐Assessment of Alexithymia and Sensitivity to Bodily Sensations Relate to Alcohol Consumption?

“…These latter findings demonstrate a mismatch between objective and subjective aspects of body awareness, possibly impacting emotional processing and 'sense of self'. Indeed, alexithymic subjects show reduced emotional awareness (Lane et al, 2015) and higher malleability of body representation in illusions of body-ownership (Georgiou et al, 2016).…”