Is alexithymia a non‐neurotic personality dimension
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9617863 |
|---|---|
| Authors | I Alex Rubino (0000-0001-9244-7640, Università degli Studi Internazionali di Roma, corresponding author), Silvia Grasso, Alberto Sonnino (0000-0001-5337-4741), Bianca Pezzarossa (0000-0001-7590-1733) |
| Year | 1991 |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 385-391 |
| Publication date | 1991-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Journal of Medical Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-1129 • E-ISSN: 2056-5194 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.2044-8341.1991.tb01675.x |
| PMID | 1786230 |
| OpenAlex | W2020297715 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
The basic hypothesis of the literature on alexithymia, i.e. that alexithymia has a higher prevalence in psychosomatic than in neurotic (and delusional) patients, was empirically tested by means of the well‐validated Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS). Surprisingly, neurotic and delusional patients ( N = 71) had significantly higher mean total scores on the TAS, compared with the psychosomatic group ( N = 150); the normal control sample ( N = 224) was, as predicted, the lowest scorer. This hierarchical distribution was confirmed for the first two factors of alexithymia: (1) difficulty in distinguishing between feelings and bodily sensations, and (2) difficulty in expressing feelings. The psychiatric group was, instead, the lowest scorer on the third factor (lack of fantasy life). A substantial cross‐validation of the above findings was achieved by comparing on the TAS three subgroups of the normal sample (symptom‐free, somatizing and ‘neurotic’ normal controls). The postulate of the non‐neurotic nature of alexithymia, along with its many psychopathological and technical corollaries, is completely contradicted by the present findings
Alexithymia · Feeling · Neuroticism · Personality · Psychoanalysis · Psychopathology · Toronto Alexithymia Scale · Action Observation and Synchronization · Clinical Psychology · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Psychology · Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments · Social Psychology
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.13 |
| Citation span | 1994 - 2001 (8) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |