Alexithymia and the interpretation of emotion-relevant information

Berenbaum, Howard; Prince, Jonathan D.

doi:10.1080/02699939408408939

Cited by 62 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The following symptoms of alexithymia are mentioned in the literature (Abe & Izard, 1999;Apfel & Sifneos, 1979;Berenbaum & Irvin, 1996;Berenbaum & Prince, 1994;Dewaraja, Tanigawa, Araki, Nakata, Kawamura, Ago & Sasaki, 1997;Friedlander, Lumley, Farchione, & Doyal 1997;Izard, 1990;Kauhanen, Kaplan, Cohen, Salonen, & Salonen, 1994;King, 1998;King & Emmons, 1990;Kooiman, 1998;Lane & Schwartz, 1987;Lane, Ahern, Schwartz & Kaszniak, 1997;Lane, Sechrest, Reidel, Weldon, Kaszniak, Schwartz, 1996;Taylor, Bagby, & Parker, 1997). On the physical level the individual shows a decreased immune response, a variety of ailments such as hypertension and a decrease in ability to associate physical sensations with emotions.…”

Section: Alexithymiamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Leadership coaching experiences of clients with Alexithymia

Cilliers

2012

SA j ind psychol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Orientation: Leaders who find it difficult to connect emotionally with colleagues are often seen as incompetent, the idea that they may suffer from alexithymia – an inability to feel – is not taken into account. This coaching model seemed to be not successful in changing this behaviour pattern.Research purpose: The purpose of the research was to describe the coaching experiences of leaders with symptoms of alexithymia and to formulate hypotheses around their leadership experiences.Motivation for the study: Effective leadership is strongly associated with emotional connections with colleagues. Leaders suffering from alexithymia, struggle with making these connections. It was thought that coaching might help them bridge the gap towards building effective relationships.Research design, approach and method: A qualitative research design using case studies was used. Three participants underwent 10 months of systems psychodynamic leadership coaching, including role analysis. Researcher’s field notes and participant essays were discourse analysed. The researcher’s unconscious experiences were included in the interpretations.Main findings: Five themes manifested themselves namely, leaders’ difficult experiences with coaching, the dynamics underlying their normative, experiential and phenomenal roles and the coach’s unconscious experiences affecting the relationship. The research hypothesis referred to the differences between the role parts and the resulting anxiety.Practical/managerial implications: This coaching model did not provide sufficient opportunities for the participating leaders with regard to emotional reactivity and regulation. Contribution/value-add: The research created awareness of how alexithymia amongst leaders manifests in organisations. Unfortunately the coaching was unsuccessful in addressing the emotional task. Other ways need to be explored.How to cite this article: Cilliers, F. (2012). Leadership coaching experiences of clients with Alexithymia. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology/SA Tydskrif vir Bedryfsielkunde, 38(2), Art. #995, 10 pages. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajip.v38i2.995

show abstract

Section: Alexithymiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Its origin and nature are described in three different ways (Berenbaum & Irvin, 1996;Berenbaum & Prince, 1994;Kets de Vries, 2001;Lumley, Gustavson, Partridge & Labouvie-Vief, 2005;Snyder & Lopez, 2002) namely:…”

Section: Alexithymiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Leadership coaching experiences of clients with Alexithymia

Cilliers

2012

SA j ind psychol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The most recent research has stressed the point that in alexithymia there is not only a difficulty in expressing emotions verbally but also a deficit in the cognitive processing of emotions (Berenbaum & Prince, 1994;Jessimer & Markham, 1997;Lundh & Simonsson-Sarnecki, 2002;Parker, Taylor, & Bagby, 1993;Roedema & Simons, 1999;Suslow, 1998;Suslow & Junghanns, 2002); as a consequence, emotions remain undifferentiated and poorly regulated (Taylor, Bagby, & Parker, 1991) and those afflicted are more likely to misinterpret their emotions as being symptoms of illness (Taylor & Bagby, 2004).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Recognition of Emotional Facial Expressions in Alexithymia

Martínez‐Sánchez¹,

Fernández-Abascal²,

Sánchez-Pérez³

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Alexithymia is a personality trait which is associated with difficulties in identifying and verbalizing emotions. Previous studies have shown a significant association between alexithymia and a lack of ability to decode emotional facial expressions. Three groups of university students (N = 1645) were formed by splitting the sample based on Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) scores. All participants performed an emotional expression recognition task, using the "Reading the Mind in the Eyes'' method. The experimenter presented images of the eye-region of the faces of actors and actresses. As expected, results showed that alexithymics performed worse on ability to infer others' emotiona l sta tes expressed by the eyes. These results suggest that alexithymia is associated with impaired emotion recognition, that is most apparent when processing capacity is restricted, high-alexithymic individuals could develop less detailed perceptual representations of facial expression which might impair the process of drawing conclusions about its emotional significance.

show abstract

“…Recent research has pointed out that individuals with alexithymia not only have difficulty to express emotions verbally but also a deficit in the cognitive processing of emotions (Berenbaum & Prince, 1994;Jessimer & Markham, 1997;Martínez-Sánchez & Marín, 1997;Parker, Taylor, & Bagby 1993;Suslow, 1998). Consequently, emotions remain undifferentiated and poorly regulated (Taylor, Bagby, & Parker, 1991).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Alexithymia — State or Trait?

2003

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Alexithymia refers to a specific disturbance in emotional processing that is manifested by difficulties in identifying and verbalizing feelings and a tendency to focus on and amplify the somatic sensations that accompany emotional arousal. Alexithymia is conceptualized both as an affect-deficit disorder and a continuous personality variable. The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the stability levels of alexithymia with regard to changes in emotional distress levels caused by university exams. We tested 20 university students at four different times, before and after the exams. Alexithymic features and self-reported emotional distress (trait anxiety and physical symptoms) were measured. Whereas emotional distress measures changed significantly during the diverse phases, the level of alexithymia remained unchanged. We therefore conclude that alexithymia represents a constant trait. Keywords: emotion, alexithymia, stress, anxiety La alexitimia describe un trastorno en el procesamiento emocional, manifestado mediante una marcada dificultad para identificar y expresar afectos, así como una tendencia a amplificar las sensaciones somáticas ligadas a la activación emocional. La alexitimia es conceptualizada tanto como un trastorno en la regulación afectiva, como una variable de personalidad. El principal objetivo de este trabajo es investigar la estabilidad temporal de los niveles de alexitimia en relación a los cambios experimentados en el malestar emocional causado por los exámenes universitarios. Evaluamos 20 universitarios en cuatro ocasiones diferentes, antes y después de los exámenes. Se evaluaron los niveles de alexitimia y de malestar emocional (ansiedad y sintomatología somática). Los resultados mostraron que mientras que las medidas de malestar emocional cambiaron significativamente durante las diversas fases, el grado de alexitimia permaneció inalterable. Se concluye afirmando que la alexitimia constituye un rasgo estable de personalidad.

show abstract

Alexithymia and the interpretation of emotion-relevant information

Cited by 62 publications

References 20 publications

Leadership coaching experiences of clients with Alexithymia

Leadership coaching experiences of clients with Alexithymia

Recognition of Emotional Facial Expressions in Alexithymia

Alexithymia — State or Trait?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About