A meta-analytic study examining the relationship between alexithymia and dissociation in psychiatric and non-clinical populations

Abstract

Alexithymia and dissociation have been consistently linked in the literature, particularly in psychiatric populations. Both arise from a disconnection between conscious aspects of self-experiences and perceptions at both the mental self and bodily levels. This results in difficulty integrating thoughts, feelings and experiences into consciousness and memory, negatively impacting emotion awareness/regulation and reflective functioning. We conducted a meta-analysis to examine the strength of the relationship between alexithymia and dissociation in both clinical and non-clinical populations. Studies using two common measures of these constructs were included (i.e., the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Dissociative Experiences Scale). Analyzing the effect sizes derived from 19 studies (including a total of 4664 participants) revealed moderate to strong relationships between alexithymia and dissociation. The strength of the association increased in clinical and younger aged non clinical populations. These findings are discussed in the context of treatment recommendations.

Self-experience in MDMA assisted therapy of PTSD

“…Being able to identify feelings, describing them and recognizing their triggers allows an individual to reflect on the situation and to respond appropriately to the context, rather than acting solely on their emotional arousal 50 . For example, alexithymia, avoidance of distressing wishes, feelings or experiences, and trouble recalling distressing experiences, is associated with impaired affect regulation 22, 23, 24 .…”

“…Problems with emotion regulation interfere with being able to disengage from trauma-related stimuli, which increases the probability of drop out due to an inability to manage distress arising during treatment 20 . Alexithymia, deficits in being able to identify and describe emotions, is associated with posttraumatic pathology 21 , 22 , 23 and with a lack of habituation to emotionally distressing stimuli 24 . Persons with high alexithymia scores have been shown to display low autonomic activity in response to any task performance, regardless of the level of emotional demand, including processing traumatic maternal 25 .…”

Explanatory hypotheses of the ecology of new clinical presentations of Dissociative Identity Disorders in youth

“…The labeling of “alters” (aka the identities of the system—see Table 2 ) could simply correspond to metaphors for different emotional states, i.e., the labeling of these states ( 12 , 38 ). Especially, such labeling allows young people to legitimize a distancing between themselves and some of their emotions ( 39 ); this distancing can be beneficial to relieve (potentially without voluntary intention) responsibility about objectionable or not accepted actions or behaviors according to the values of their communities (e.g., scarifications, which can be incompatible with the values of their family, while they can be in conformity according to the values of their peer group).…”

When and for whom do psychodynamic therapists use guided imagery? Explicating practitioners’ tacit knowledge

“…According to our results, this especially seems to be the case when patients do not have sufficient control over it, or do not accept help or respond to therapist’s interventions while imagining. This finding is in line with previous literature (Reyno et al ., 2020 ; Sachsse, 1989 ). Reddemann ( 2014 ) for example suggests that for a successful imagery processing, patients need to have enough security in the external world, in relationship to the therapist and within themselves in order not to be overwhelmed by the imagery process.…”