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Alexithymia Scale (alexithymia + scale)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Medical Sciences62%
Psychology25%

Kinds of Alexithymia Scale

  • item toronto alexithymia scale
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  • toronto alexithymia scale
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    Selected Abstracts

    Facial emotion recognition and alexithymia in adults with somatoform disorders

    DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, Issue 1 2009
    Francisco Pedrosa Gil M.D.
    Abstract Objective: The primary aim of this study was to investigate facial emotion recognition in patients with somatoform disorders (SFD). Also of interest was the extent to which concurrent alexithymia contributed to any changes in emotion recognition accuracy. Methods: Twenty patients with SFD and twenty healthy, age, sex and education matched, controls were assessed with the Facially Expressed Emotion Labelling Test of facial emotion recognition and the 26-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-26). Results: Patients with SFD exhibited elevated alexithymia symptoms relative to healthy controls. Patients with SFD also recognized significantly fewer emotional expressions than did the healthy controls. However, the group difference in emotion recognition accuracy became nonsignificant once the influence of alexithymia was controlled for statistically. Conclusions: This suggests that the deficit in facial emotion recognition observed in the patients with SFD was most likely a consequence of concurrent alexithymia. Impaired facial emotion recognition observed in the patients with SFD could plausibly have a negative influence on these individuals' social functioning. Depression and Anxiety, 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

    Facial emotion recognition and alexithymia in adults with somatoform disorders

    DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, Issue 11 2008
    Francisco Pedrosa Gil M.D.
    Abstract The primary aim of this study was to investigate facial emotion recognition (FER) in patients with somatoform disorders (SFD). Also of interest was the extent to which concurrent alexithymia contributed to any changes in emotion recognition accuracy. Twenty patients with SFD and 20 healthy, age, sex and education matched, controls were assessed with the Facially Expressed Emotion Labelling Test of FER and the 26-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Patients with SFD exhibited elevated alexithymia symptoms relative to healthy controls. Patients with SFD also recognized significantly fewer emotional expressions than did the healthy controls. However, the group difference in emotion recognition accuracy became nonsignificant once the influence of alexithymia was controlled for statistics. This suggests that the deficit in FER observed in the patients with SFD was most likely a consequence of concurrent alexithymia. It should be noted that neither depression nor anxiety was significantly related to emotion recognition accuracy, suggesting that these variables did not contribute the emotion recognition deficit. Impaired FER observed in the patients with SFD could plausibly have a negative influence on these individuals' social functioning. Depression and Anxiety, 2008. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

    Psychiatric morbidity and the presence and absence of angiographic coronary disease in patients with chest pain

    ACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 5 2001
    M. Valkamo
    Objective: ,To assess psychiatric morbidity in coronary angiogram patients. Method: ,A psychiatric assessment of 200 consecutive chest-pain patients was performed the day before coronary angiography in a double-blind study design. The sample included 132 men (mean age 57.2 years, SD 9.5) and 68 women (mean age 59.8 years, SD 8.9). A Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R was used to obtain psychiatric diagnosis. The 21-item Beck Depression Inventory, the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale and a four-item Life Satisfaction Scale were used to assess mental symptoms. A coronary angiography with obstruction of a coronary artery by more than 50% was considered to indicate angiographic coronary disease. Results: ,Mental disorders were found in 28% (95% CI 14,41) of the patients with normal angiographic findings (n=47) and in 24% (95% CI 17 , 30) of the patients with angiographic coronary disease (n=153). Furthermore, no difference was found between these two groups in other rating scales assessing mental symptoms even when adjusted for the New York Heart Association class, duration of chest-pain symptoms or exercise capacity. Conclusion: ,Psychiatric morbidity may not be associated with angiographic findings in patients with chest pain. [source]

    A cardiac signature of emotionality

    EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 11 2007
    Stefan Koelsch
    Abstract Human personality has brain correlates that exert manifold influences on biological processes. This study investigates relations between emotional personality and heart activity. Our data demonstrate that emotional personality is related to a specific cardiac amplitude signature in the resting electrocardiogram (ECG). Two experiments using functional magnetic resonance imaging show that this signature correlates with brain activity in the amygdala and the hippocampus during the processing of musical stimuli with emotional valence. Additionally, this cardiac signature correlates with subjective indices of emotionality (as measured by the Revised Toronto Alexithymia Scale), and with both time and frequency domain measures of the heart rate variability. The results demonstrate intricate connections between emotional personality and the heart by showing that ECG amplitude patterns provide considerably more information about an individual's emotionality than previously believed. The finding of a cardiac signature of emotional personality opens new perspectives for the investigation of relations between emotional dysbalance and cardiovascular disease. [source]

    Emotional awareness in substance-dependent patients,

    JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2010
    Solange Carton
    Abstract We explored emotional awareness in substance-dependent patients and its relationships to self-reported alexithymia. Sixty-four outpatients with drug dependence or alcohol dependence were evaluated before the beginning of treatment with the Hamilton Depressive Scale and the Covi Anxiety Scale, and they completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS). Subjects exhibited low levels of emotional awareness and TAS-20 scores were high. Both measures were not related to depressive and anxious symptomatology. This research is the first to provide LEAS results with substance-dependent patients and highlights their deficits in emotions' differentiation and complexity. The lack of a relationship between LEAS and TAS-20 is discussed from the methodological and theoretical points of view. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 66:1,12, 2010. [source]

    Correlations between alexithymia and pain severity, depression, and anxiety among patients with chronic and episodic migraine

    PSYCHIATRY AND CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES, Issue 3 2010
    Irem Yalug MD
    Aims:, Some studies have found elevated alexithymia among patients with chronic pain, but the correlations between alexithymia and the severity of pain, depression, and anxiety among migraine patients are unclear. The aims of the present study were to investigate whether individuals suffering from episodic migraine (EM) differ from those with chronic migraine (CM) in regards to depression, anxiety, and alexithymia measures and to investigate the association of alexithymia with the results of depression and anxiety test inventories and illness characteristics. Methods:, A total of 165 subjects with EM and 135 subjects with CM were studied. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), State,Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) were administered to all subjects. The correlation between alexithymia and sociodemographic variables, family history of migraine and illness characteristics (pain severity, frequency of episode, duration of illness) were evaluated. Results:, Compared with EM patients, the CM patients had significantly higher scores on measures of depression but not alexithymia and anxiety. There was a positive correlation between TAS scores and age and education in both migraine groups, but there was no correlation between TAS scores and other demographic variables. Depression and anxiety were significantly correlated with alexithymia in both migraine groups. Conclusion:, Our results indicate that CM patients are considerably more depressive than EM patients. In this study, depression and anxiety were significantly correlated with alexithymia in both migraine groups. Our results demonstrate a positive association between depression, anxiety, and alexithymia in migraine patients. [source]

    Gamma band activity and its synchronization reflect the dysfunctional emotional processing in alexithymic persons

    PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 6 2006
    Atsushi Matsumoto
    Abstract In the present study, we investigated the gamma band response and its phase synchrony between electrodes in alexithymia, which is characterized by a disability in identifying and describing feelings. Individuals with high and low alexithymia scores were selected according to the scores on the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale. EEG was recorded from alexithymic and nonalexithymic persons viewing emotionally negative or neutral stimuli. Nonalexithymic persons exhibited increased gamma band power and phase synchronization at the 400,450-ms time window when processing emotionally negative stimuli. Neither enhanced gamma band power nor phase synchronization was observed in alexithymic persons in the negative emotion condition. These results suggest that gamma band activity reflects emotional processing, and alexithymic persons may have a deficit in communication between brain regions or in the utilization of memory or emotional information during the processing of emotional stimuli. [source]

    Relationships between personality traits, seminal parameters and hormones in male infertility

    ANDROLOGIA, Issue 5 2002
    R. Conrad
    Summary. In this study we investigated the relationship between personality attitudes, psychopathological symptoms and biological parameters in male infertility. Eighty-four infertile men underwent a psychological and medical examination at our clinic. The psychological tests comprised the Symptom Checklist 90-R, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the NEO-Five Factor Inventory. Seminal parameters, gonadotrophins, sex steroids, cortisol and prolactin were analyzed to obtain biological data. Compared with questionnaires completed by normal populations those in the study group scored higher on the scales for ,conscientiousness', ,agreeableness', ,alexithymia' and ,somatization' and lower on the scale for ,neuroticism'. Regarding psychobiological correlations we found a negative correlation between seminal parameters and ,extraversion', ,anxiety' and ,psychoticism'. ,Alexithymia' was negatively correlated with stress hormones and ,conscientiousness' was correlated with sex steroids. The findings suggest above average social competence in the study group. The psychobiological correlations indicate a link between social-competence-related personality traits such as ,extraversion' and ,conscientiousness' and biological fertility characteristics. Implications of a higher alexithymia in infertile men, which is negatively correlated with stress hormones, are discussed. [source]