Is alexithymia a risk factor for major depression, personality disorder, or alcohol use disorders? A prospective population-based study

The role of alexithymia in predicting incident depression in patients at first acute coronary syndrome

“…The data of this study also confirm the observation of significant relationships between alexithymia, assessed with the TAS-20, and negative affects or psychological distress found in the general population [56,69]. Our data replicate the results of one of these studies [59] which found in the general population that the development of major depression was not predicted by TAS-20 score.…”

“…In the second hypothesis, the relationship between alexithymia and depression may represent an artifact of the method and measures used [63], since, particularly the TAS-20 dimensions DIF and DDF are associated with different measures of negative affects [15,16,[56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63]. Therefore, individuals with negative emotional states (i.e.…”

The two views of emotion in psychosomatic research

“…Interestingly, both studies included measures of emotional states as competing variables. Alexithymia and depression were tested as predictors of new psychiatric disorders [6], and alexithymia was associated with health-related quality of life, even when controlling for anxiety and depression [7]. Only one article in this issue focused almost exclusively on emotional processes.…”

Alexithymia and Somatization in Depressed Patients: The Role of the Type of Somatic Symptom Attribution

“…While some studies support the opinion that alexithymia and depression are separate concepts, others stress that they overlap or that they co-exist (5,6,7,8,9). This controversy is significant, as it is critical in establishing whether alexithymia is a personality trait; in other words, if it is a permanent phenomenon (unlike and separate from depression) or a secondary condition developed in response to various psychological stresses (overlapping with depression), as initiallyproposed by Freyberger (10).…”