Illuminating the clinical significance of alexithymia subtypes: A cluster analysis of alexithymic traits and psychiatric symptoms

Kajanoja, Jani; Scheinin, Noora M.; Karlsson, Lena; Karlsson, Hasse; Karukivi, Max

doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2017.04.010

Cited by 43 publications

(45 citation statements)

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“…Also in the present study, the internal consistency of EOT was weaker compared with DIF and DDF. It is evident that the psychometric properties of EOT are weaker, but based on recent findings, although the associations of EOT differ from those typical for DIF and DDF, they also have clinical significance and these links should be studied further (Kajanoja, Scheinin, Karlsson, Karlsson & Karukivi, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations of social support and alexithymia with psychological distress in Finnish young adults

Saikkonen

Karukivi

Vahlberg

et al. 2018

Scandinavian J Psychology

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The positive influence of social support on psychological wellbeing is well documented but the research among young adults is scarce. Additionally, it is still unclear what type of social support explains the positive influence in this age group. Alexithymia has been linked to lacking social support and higher levels of psychological distress, but the underlying mechanisms are not well known. We aimed to assess the association of social support and alexithymia with psychological distress in a sample of young adults. The non-clinical sample comprised 316 young Finnish adults (mean age 23 years). Psychological distress was assessed using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), alexithymia was measured with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and social support with the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). The associations were assessed using regression analyses. The TAS-20 (p = 0.002) and MSPSS (p = < 0.001) total scores were significantly associated with the GHQ-12 scores even after adjustment for sociodemographic variables. For the model with the TAS-20 and MSPSS subscales, the Difficulty Identifying Feelings subscale score of the TAS-20 scale (p < 0.001) and the Family subscale score of the MSPSS scale (p = 0.010) were significantly associated with the GHQ-12 scores. Our results show that low social support and high levels of alexithymia are associated with increased psychological distress both in females and males. Perceived social support from family explained the association between social support and psychological distress to a significant extent. Regarding alexithymia, the association with psychological distress was mainly related to difficulties identifying feelings.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations of social support and alexithymia with psychological distress in Finnish young adults

Saikkonen

Karukivi

Vahlberg

et al. 2018

Scandinavian J Psychology

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“…Nevertheless, in line with these studies, the present study replicated lack of significance of the TAS-20 DDF and EOT subscales and highlighted the role of the TAS-20 DIF subscale in relation to empathy and physical symptoms in asthma patients. The TAS-20 EOT subscale may have a negligible role in negative affect (Grabe, Spitzer, & Freyberger, 2004;Kajanoja et al, 2017aKajanoja et al, , 2017bLi, Zhang, Guo, & Zhang, 2015) and decrease physiological reactivity such as negative affect and depressed mood (Davydov, Luminet, & Zech, 2013;Wiebe, Kersting, & Suslow, 2017). In addition, individuals with high EOT subscale avoid engaging in problems and negative feelings of other people (Taylor, 2000).…”

Section: Structural Equation Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alexithymia, empathy, negative affect and physical symptoms in patients with asthma

Khosravani

Ardestani

Alvani

et al. 2020

Clin Psychology and Psychoth

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Although alexithymia has been found to be associated with physical symptoms in psychosomatic disorders such as asthma, mechanisms linking this association are unknown. However, affective alexithymic features may be associated with physical symptoms in the presence of deficits in affective characteristics such as low empathy and high negative affect. This study aimed to assess direct effects of alexithymic traits on physical symptoms and indirect effects of these subscales through empathy and negative affect (e.g. depressive, anxious and stress symptoms) by controlling for asthma severity in patients with asthma. Three hundred patients with asthma completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20), the Basic Empathy Scale (BES), the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) and the Physical Symptoms Inventory (PSI). After controlling for asthma severity, the results showed that alexithymia subscales of the TAS-20 had no direct effects on physical symptoms, but the difficulty in identifying feelings (DIF) subscale of the TAS-20 was associated with affective empathy and negative affect. Affective empathy was significantly related to negative affect. Affective empathy and negative affect were associated with physical symptoms. The affective subscale of alexithymia on the TAS-20, that is DIF, indirectly affected physical symptoms through affective empathy and negative affect. Findings suggest that patients with asthma who have high levels of DIF may show high physical symptoms in the presence of low affective empathy and high negative affect.

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“…For example, a study [18] in Finland with a large sample size (> 2,000) reported that compared to type A alexithymia (characterized by significantly higher scores in DDF and externally oriented cognitive style), type B alexithymia (characterized by significantly higher scores in DIF) was associated with a higher prevalence of self-reported diagnosis of major depressive disorder (30.2 vs. 8.3%) and anxiety disorder (18.9 vs. 3.3%). So far, whether the depressive and anxious status are caused by ego-dystonic experience induced by alexithymia, and subsequently lead to OC symptoms, has yet been examined.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

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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Illuminating the clinical significance of alexithymia subtypes: A cluster analysis of alexithymic traits and psychiatric symptoms

Cited by 43 publications

References 50 publications

Associations of social support and alexithymia with psychological distress in Finnish young adults

Associations of social support and alexithymia with psychological distress in Finnish young adults

Alexithymia, empathy, negative affect and physical symptoms in patients with asthma

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

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