Definition: Alexithymia

Alexithymia from the Greek words λεξις and θυμος (literally "without words for emotions") is a term coined by Peter Sifneos in 1973[1][2] to describe a state of deficiency in understanding, processing, or describing emotions.

Classification

Alexithymia is considered to be a personality trait that places individuals at risk for other medical and psychiatric disorders while reducing the likelihood that these individuals will respond to conventional treatments for the other conditions.[3]

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 (TAS-20), the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire (BVAQ)[4] or the Observer Alexithymia Scale (OAS).[3]

Alexithymia is defined by:[5]

• (i) difficulty identifying feelings and distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal
• (ii) difficulty describing feelings to other people
• (iii) constricted imaginal processes, as evidenced by a paucity of fantasies
• (iv) a stimulus-bound, externally oriented cognitive style.

In studies of the general population the degree of alexithymia was found to be influenced by age, but not by gender; the rates of alexithymia in healthy controls have been found at 8.3% (2 of 24 persons) 4.7% (2 of 43), 8.9% (16 of 179), and 7% (4 of 56). Thus, several studies have reported that the prevalence rate of alexithymia is less than 10% in healthy controls.[6] A less common finding suggests that there may be a higher prevalence of alexithymia amongst males than females, which may be accounted for by difficulties they have with 'describing feelings', but not by a difficulty in 'identifying feelings' in which males and females show similar abilities.[7]

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