Evidence of Contrasting Patterns for Suppression and Reappraisal Emotion Regulation Strategies in Alexithymia

Abstract

Alexithymia generally refers to difficulties in identifying and describing emotions. In this paper, two studies explored whether the emotion deficits observed in alexithymia may be related to the use of emotion regulation strategies. Relations with various sociodemographic variables were also explored. In the first study, 255 students completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20. For the second study, 1107 participants from the general population completed the ERQ and the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire. Results demonstrated that alexithymia was related to the use of a suppression strategy and in particular to difficulties verbalizing emotions, suggesting that the capacity to communicate and name one's emotion is a central aspect in alexithymia. Concerning sociodemographic variables, alexithymia and the use of a suppression strategy were found to be related to age and to be higher in males. The results of these studies and their clinical implications for treatment are discussed.

The emotion regulation questionnaire in women with cancer: A psychometric evaluation and an item response theory analysis

“…Consistent with expectations, individuals who report typically suppressing their emotions are more likely to report controlling their emotions and not expressing them to others and to have a greater difficulty in identifying and describing their emotions. These associations are consistent with other studies, eg, 1 study . Suppressors also tend to report lower emotional self‐efficacy, including concerns about difficulties communicating their emotions and staying focused on the present moment.…”

Impaired emotion processing and a reduction in trust in patients with somatic symptom disorder

“…Furthermore, individuals with high levels of alexithymia seem to use maladaptive emotion regulation strategies enhancing physiological aspects of emotional experience, suggesting that patients with SSD might also rely on dysfunctional emotion regulation styles (Laloyaux, Fantini, Lemaire, Luminet, & Laroi, ; Swart, Kortekaas, & Aleman, ). Traue () postulates that somatization is promoted by the suppression of negative feelings, which is in accordance with studies that have shown that suppression enhances physiological aspects of emotional experience (Alexander, ; Pennebaker & Seagal, ).…”

Emotion dysregulation in alexithymia: Startle reactivity to fearful affective imagery and its relation to heart rate variability

“…These restrict emotion awareness, resulting in subjective emotional experiences that do not correspond to physiological reactivity. Support for this interpretation comes mainly from correlational evidence of lower emotion regulation abilities, less use of adaptive strategies like reappraisal (Stasiewicz et al, 2012;Venta, Hart, & Sharp, 2012), and greater and more efficient use of repression, suppression (Laloyaux et al, 2015;Walker, O'Connor, & Schaefer, 2011), or experiential avoidance (Panayiotou et al, 2015) in alexithymia. Reliance on these strategies has been found to mediate alexithymia's association with problems like aggression (Velotti et al, 2016), depression, and psychosomatic symptomatology (Panayiotou et al, 2015).…”