Alexithymia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alexithymia (pronounced: /ˌeɪlɛksəˈθaɪmiə/) from the Greek words λεξις and θυμος, literally "without words for emotions") was a term coined by Peter Sifneos in 1973[1][2] to describe people who appeared to have deficiencies in understanding, processing, or describing their emotions. Deficiencies may include:

  • problems identifying, describing, and working with one's own feelings, often marked by a lack of understanding of the feelings of others;
  • difficulty distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal[1]
  • confusion of physical sensations often associated with emotions;
  • few dreams or fantasies due to restricted imagination; and
  • concrete, realistic, logical thinking, often to the exclusion of emotional responses to problems.
  • Those who have alexithymia also report very logical and realistic dreams, such as going to the store or eating a meal.

Some alexithymic individuals may appear to contradict the above mentioned characteristics because they can experience chronic dysphoria or manifest outbursts of crying or rage. However, questioning usually reveals that they are quite incapable of describing their feelings or appear confused by questions inquiring about specifics of feelings. Clinical experience suggests it is the structural features of dreams more than the ability to recall them that best characterizes alexithymia[1].

A common misconception about alexithymia is that victims of this construct are totally unable to express emotions verbally and that they may even fail to acknowledge that they experience emotions. Even before coining the term, Sifneos (1967) noted patients often mentioned things like anxiety or depression. The distinguishing factor was their inability to elaborate beyond a few limited adjectives used to describe these feelings. The core issue is that alexithymics have poorly differentiated emotions limiting their ability to distinguish and describe them to others[1]. This contributes to the sense of emotional detachment from themselves and difficulty connecting with others that is typical of the alexithymic's experience.

Alexithymia is not classified as a mental disorder in the DSM IV. It is a personality trait that varies in severity from person to person. A person's alexithymia score can be measured with questionnaires, such as the Toronto Alexithymia Scale.

Contents

[edit] Comorbidity

Alexithymics are believed to be at higher risk of developing personality disorders, such as; Implancation Metoral Syndrom (Aka Piss Lips) Also, alexithymia is correlated with particular illnesses, such as hypertension,[3] inflammatory bowel disease[4], functional dyspepsia,[5], sexual disorders,[6] substance use disorders,[7][8] and some anxiety disorders.[9]

An inability to modulate emotions is a possibility in explaining why some alexithymics are prone to discharge tension arising from unpleasant emotional states through impulsive acts or compulsive behaviors such as binge eating, substance abuse, perverse sexual behavior, or the self-starvation of anorexia nervosa. The failure to regulate emotions cognitively might result in prolonged elevations of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and neuroendocrine systems which can lead to somatic diseases. Alexithymics also show a limited ability to experience positive emotions leading Krystal (1988) and Sifneos (1987) to describe many of these individuals as anhedonic[2].

[edit] Etiology

It is unclear what causes alexithymia. Some neuropsychological studies indicate that alexithymia may be due to a disturbance to the right hemisphere of the brain, which is largely responsible for processing emotions.[10] Other studies show evidence that there may be an interhemispheric transfer deficit among alexithymics; that is, the emotional information from the right hemisphere is not being properly transferred to the language regions in the left hemisphere, as can be caused by a decreased corpus callosum, often present in psychiatric patients who have suffered severe childhood abuse.[11] In addition, another neuropsychological model suggests that alexithymia may be related to a dysfunction of the anterior cingulate cortex.[12] These studies have some shortcomings, however, and the empirical evidence about the causes of alexithymia remain inconclusive (for a review, see [13]).

Although physiological effects are important to determine, one must remember the first language of an infant is nonverbal facial expressions. The mother's emotional state is important for determining how any child might develop. Neglect or indifference to varying changes in a child's facial expressions without proper feedback can promote an invalidation of the facial expressions manifested by the child. The parents ability to reflect self-awareness to the child is another important factor. If the adult is incapable of recognizing and distinguishing emotional expressions in the child, it can influence the child's capacity to understand emotional expressions[1]. Moreover, if a parent responds with apathy, indifference, or anger to a child's natural range of emotions, the child will learn not to trust their feelings and over time may become conditioned to numb themselves to the experiences of their emotions.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e Bar-On, Reuven; James D.A. Parker (2000). The Handbook of Emotional Intelligence: Theory, Development, Assessment, and Application at Home, School, and in the Workplace, 40-59. 
  2. ^ a b Taylor, Graeme J.; Michael Bagby and James D.A. Parker (1997). Disorders of Affect Regulation: Alexithymia in Medical and Psychiatric Illness, 28-31. 
  3. ^ Jula, Antti; Jouko K. Salminen; Simo Saarijärvi (April 1999). "Alexithymia: A Facet of Essential Hypertension". Hypertension 33 (4): 1057-1061. PubMed. Retrieved on 2006-12-17. 
  4. ^ Verissimo, R; Mota-Cardoso R; Taylor G. (1998). "Relationships between alexithymia, emotional control, and quality of life in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.". Psychother Psychosom. 67 (2): 75-80. PubMed. 
  5. ^ Jones, Michael P.; Ann Schettler, Kevin Olden, and Michael D. Crowell (2004). "Alexithymia and Somatosensory Amplification in Functional Dyspepsia". Psychosomatics 45 (6): 508-516. PubMed. Retrieved on 2006-12-17. 
  6. ^ Michetti, Paolo Maria; Daniele Bonanno, Roberta Rossi, Andrea Tiesi and Chiara Simonelli (2006). "Male sexuality and regulation of emotions: a study on the association between alexithymia and erectile dysfunction (ED)". International Journal of Impotence Research 18 (2): 170–174. PubMed. Retrieved on 2007-02-02. 
  7. ^ Li, Chiang-shan Ray; Rajita Sinha (March 2006). "Alexithymia and stress-induced brain activation in cocaine-dependent men and women". Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience 31 (2): 115–121. PubMed. Retrieved on 2006-12-17. 
  8. ^ Lumley, Mark A.; Karen K. Downey, Laurence Stettner, Francine Wehmer, and Ovide F. Pomerleau (1994). "Alexithymia and negative affect: relationship to cigarette smoking, nicotine dependence, and smoking cessation". Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 61 (3-4): 156-162. PubMed. 
  9. ^ Jones, Bruce A. (November 1984). "Panic attacks with panic masked by alexithymia" (PDF). Psychosomatics 25 (11): 858-859. PubMed. Retrieved on 2006-12-17. 
  10. ^ Jessimer, M., & Markham, R. (1997). Alexithymia: A right hemisphere dysfunction specific to recognition of certain facial expressions? Brain & Cognition, 34, 246-258.
  11. ^ Hoppe, K. D., & Bogen, J. E. (1977). Alexithymia in twelve commissurotomized patients. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 28, 148-155.
  12. ^ Lane, R. D., Ahern, G. L., Schwartz, G. E., & Kaszniak, A. W. (1997). Is alexithymia the emotional equivalent of blindsight? Biological Psychiatry, 42, 834-844.
  13. ^ Tabibnia, G., & Zaidel, E. (2005). Alexithymia, interhemispheric transfer, and right hemispheric specialization: A critical review. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 74, 81-92.


[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

  • Disorders of Affect Regulation: Alexithymia in Medical and Psychiatric Illness by Graeme J. Taylor, R. Michael Bagby, James D. A. Parker (ISBN 0521778506)
  • Blocked Imagination~ Emptied Speech: A Brief Account of the Alexithymia Concept by Jason Thompson (ISBN 0646471430)
  • Integration and Self-Healing: Affect, Trauma, Alexithymia by Henry Krystal (ISBN 0881631809)
  • Theatres of the Mind: Illusion and Truth on the Psychoanalytic Stage by Joyce McDougall (ISBN 0946960658)
  • Alexithymia: A Psychological Analysis Based on Clinical and Healthy Individuals by Modjtaba S. Mortazavi Asl (ISBN 9155449220)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../a/l/e/Alexithymia.html"