Alexithymia as a Core Trait in Psychosomatic and Other Psychological Disorders

Panayiotou, Georgia

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-89360-0_5

Cited by 12 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Moreover, alexithymia has often been associated with dysfunctional physiological aspects, leading to medical diseases (Asi Karakas et al, 2016;Panayiotou, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alexithymia: A facet of uncontrolled hypertension

Casagrande

Mingarelli

Guarino

et al. 2019

International Journal of Psychophysiology

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“…Moreover, alexithymia has often been associated with dysfunctional physiological aspects, leading to medical diseases (Asi Karakas et al, 2016;Panayiotou, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alexithymia: A facet of uncontrolled hypertension

Casagrande

Mingarelli

Guarino

et al. 2019

International Journal of Psychophysiology

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“…These implications raise additional clinical concerns. Among individuals with low IS, a tendency to alexithymia may lead to the conceptualization of “physiological symptoms” as sensations of somatic arousal; hence, such sleep problems may be experienced as “physiological” [ 17 ]. External-oriented thinking may result in cognitive arousal dissociated from somatic feelings, such that thinking content is mainly related to stressors; that is, generalized worry about how things are might constitute the prevalent form of cognitive arousal [ 61 ] among individuals with low IS.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been hypothesized to be associated with higher tonic physiological arousal due to persistent difficulty in emotion regulation [ 13 , 14 ]. Some evidence has shown higher levels of arousal among high-alexithymia individuals under neutral or baseline conditions [ 15 – 17 ] and in the recovery phase [ 18 ]. This persistent tonic hyperarousal may further affect sleep quality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do alexithymia and negative affect predict poor sleep quality? The moderating role of interoceptive sensibility

et al. 2022

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Objectives Emotion-related hyperarousal is an important core pathology of poor sleep. Studies investigating the interplay of alexithymia and affective experiences in determining sleep quality have yielded mixed results. To disentangle the inconsistency, this study examined the concurrent predictive power of alexithymia, and negative and positive affect, while incorporating interoceptive sensibility (IS) as a possible moderator. Methods A sample of 224 (70.10% were female) participants completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA), and Marlowe‐Crowne Social Desirability Scale (for controlling response bias) using paper and pencil. A two-stage cluster analysis of the MAIA was used to capture IS characteristics. Stepwise regression was conducted separately for each IS cluster. Results A three-group structure for IS characteristics was found. Higher alexithymia was predictive of poor sleep quality in the low IS group, while higher negative affect predicted poor sleep quality in the moderate and high IS groups. Additionally, alexithymia and positive affect were significantly different in the three IS groups, while negative affect and sleep quality were not. Conclusions Emotion and cognitive arousal may impact sleep quality differently in individuals with different levels of internal focusing ability, depending on physiological versus emotional self-conceptualization. The implications on pathological research, clinical intervention, study limitations and future directions are discussed.

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“…Alexithymia was associated with physiological conditions that can lead to medical diseases [25,26). It was reported that the level of alexithymia is higher in some chronic, autoimmune and systemic diseases compared to the average population [27][28][29].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%