Do alexithymic individuals avoid their feelings? Experiential avoidance mediates the association between alexithymia, psychosomatic, and depressive symptoms in a community and a clinical sample

Panayiotou, Georgia; Leonidou, Chrysanthi; Constantinou, Elena; Hart, John; Rinehart, Kimberly L.; Sy, Jennifer T.; Björgvinsson, Thröstur

doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2014.09.006

Cited by 101 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Interestingly, our results revealed that emotional and conduct problems as assessed by the SDQ predicted DIF, whereas emotional distress predicted the emotional aspects of alexithymia (DIF/DDF subscales), highlighting the close link between a possible psychopathology and alexithymic behavior connected to emotion awareness. This finding could highlight problems in affect regulation associated with alexithymia as demonstrated in adults (Taylor et al, 1999; Taylor and Bagby, 2004; Foran and O’Leary, 2013; Panayiotou et al, 2015). Furthermore, the idea that a disturbed body ownership could be related to emotional or conduct problems, was also supported by the fact that SDQ mean scores and proprioceptive drift were associated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…Alexithymia is related to a wide range of mental disorders (Taylor et al, 1999) including eating disorders (de Zwaan et al, 1996; Taylor et al, 1999; Corcos et al, 2000; Berthoz et al, 2007; Pollatos et al, 2008), depression (Taylor and Bagby, 2004; Foran and O’Leary, 2013; Panayiotou et al, 2015), anxiety disorders (Turk et al, 2005), substance use (Lyvers et al, 2013) and a variety of somatic illnesses such as diabetes mellitus (Chatzi et al, 2009). Self-report measures like the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (Bagby et al, 1994), the most widely used and well-validated assessment tool (Bagby et al, 1994; Parker et al, 2003; Mattila et al, 2007), assess alexithymia and its three main facets; namely difficulties in identifying feelings (TAS 1, DIF), difficulties in describing feelings (TAS2, DDF), and externally oriented thinking or a preoccupation with the details of external events (TAS3, EOT).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Describe Your Feelings: Body Illusion Related to Alexithymia in Adolescence

2016

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Objective: Having access to bodily signals is known to be crucial for differentiating the self from others and coping with negative feelings. The interplay between bodily and emotional processes develops in adolescence, where vulnerability is high, as negative affect states often occur, that could hamper the integration of bodily input into the self. Aim of the present study in healthy adolescents was to examine, whether a disturbed emotional awareness, described by the alexithymic construct, could trigger a higher malleability in the sense of body-ownership.Methods: Fifty-four healthy adolescents aged between 12 to 17 years participated in this study. The Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the Screening psychischer Störungen im Jugendalter were used to assess emotional distress and conduct problems. Alexithymia was assessed by the TAS-20. The rubber hand illusion was implemented for examining the malleability of body-ownership.Results: A higher body illusion was found to be connected with “difficulties in describing feelings”. Moreover, a higher degree of self-reported conduct and emotional problems as assessed by the SDQ were associated with a more pronounced body illusion. Further findings revealed an association between emotional distress and the emotional alexithymia subscales “difficulties in identifying feelings” and “difficulties in describing feelings”.Conclusion: Our findings emphasize a close link between the sense of body-ownership and emotional awareness as assessed by emotional facets of the alexithymic trait. We suggest that in adolescents with higher malleability of body-ownership, a vicious circle might occur where affect and integration of different proprioceptive signals regarding the body become more entangled.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Describe Your Feelings: Body Illusion Related to Alexithymia in Adolescence

2016

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“…Tull and Gratz demonstrated a relationship between anxiety sensitivity and depression through experiential avoidance (17). Panayiotou et al found that improvement in depression was correlated with a decrease in alexithymia, and experiential avoidance played a significant mediator role in this regard (18).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Empirical studies have highlighted the mediatory role of experiential avoidance in the relationship between the fear of cognitive dyscontrol and disordered eating (16), or the relationship between anxiety sensitivity and depression (17). Panayiotou and colleagues found that clinical improvement in depression was correlated with a decrease in alexithymia, mediated by decreased experiential avoidance (18). It has been shown that experiential avoidance has the potential to act as a mediating factor among different psychological variables (19).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mediator role of experiential avoidance in relationship of perceived stress and alexithymia with mental health

Zakiei

Ghasemi

Gilan

et al. 2017

East Mediterr Health J

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Rôle de médiation de l'évitement expérientiel dans le rapport entre stress perçu, alexithymie et santé mentale RÉSUMÉ La présente étude transversale a examiné le rôle de médiation de l'évitement expérientiel dans le rapport entre le stress perçu, l'alexithymie et la santé mentale. Nous avons inscrit dans cette étude 440 étudiants (âge compris entre 18 et 30 ans) de l'Université des Sciences médicales de Kermanshah par la méthode d'échantillonnage aléatoire stratifié. Les instruments utilisés dans l'étude étaient la liste de contrôle démographique, le questionnaire sur la santé générale en 28 items, l'échelle d'Alexithymie de Toronto à 20 items et l'échelle de mesure du stress perçu. Les données ont été analysées au moyen des logiciels SPSS-18 et AMOS-18 en recourant à la corrélation de Pearson, l'analyse de régression hiérarchique et la modélisation par équation structurelle. Il y avait une corrélation positive significative entre le stress perçu et l'évitement expérientiel, et l'alexithymie et les problèmes de santé mentale (p<0,001). La modélisation par équation structurelle a montré que la relation entre le stress perçu et les ABSTRACT This cross-sectional study investigated the mediatory role of experiential avoidance in the relationship between perceived stress and alexithymia with mental health. We enrolled 440 students (age 18-30 years) at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences through stratified random sampling method. The study tools were demographic checklist, GHQ-28, Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 and Perceived Stress Scale. Data were analysed by SPSS-18 and AMOS-18 using Pearson correlation, hierarchical regression analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM). There was a significant positive correlation between perceived stress and experiential avoidance, and alexithymia and mental health problems (P < 0.001). SEM showed that the relationship between perceived stress and mental health problems by experiential avoidance was 0.19 [(β = 0.19; standard error (SE) = 0.09; P = 0.001], and the relationship between alexithymia and mental health problems through experiential avoidance was 0.09 (β = 0.09; SE = 0.43; P = 0.01). The mediatory role of experiential avoidance was confirmed in such a way that the effects of alexithymia and perceived stress decreased.

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“…Indeed, it has been reported that approximately 25-50% of emergency department (ED) visits by adolescents are for non urgent and non organic problems (Alderman, 2012;Cozzi et al, 2017). Research among adults population have shown that somatoform symptoms are significant associated with both difficulty in expressing and verbalizing emotional states and experiences (Panayiotou et al, 2015;Saariaho et al, 2016) and use of immature defense mechanisms (Hyphantis et al, 2013a(Hyphantis et al, , 2013b. Moreover research have widely underlined the presence of significant associations between alexithymia and immature defense strategies (Alilu et al, 2014).…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Somatoform Symptoms In Adolescents Who Visit The Emergency Department: Alexithymia And Defensive Strategies

Marzilli¹

2017

European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences

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Somatoform symptoms represent one of the main reasons of access to emergency department (ED) in adolescence. Research in this field has limitedly focused on difficulties to recognize and cope with their own emotions, considering the access rate to an ED. The present study aims to verify whether adolescents who accessed an ED for somatoform symptoms show high alexithymia traits and use specific defense strategies. Adolescents (range: 15-24 years) who visited an ED for somatoform symptoms (N=37) or who accessed to an ED for somatoform symptoms in the past (N=37) were involved in this study and completed the TAS-20 to assess alexithymia and the REM-71 to assess use of defense mechanisms. A control group of adolescents from general population were paired. Adolescents who visited an ED for somatoform symptoms shown more alexithymic traits and a higher use of maladaptive defense strategies respect to control group. Higher rates of access to ED are associated with more use of repression, but only for adolescents who accessed to an ED in the past. Finally, alexithymic characteristics are associated with use of specific defense strategies. Our findings confirm that ED is one of the most used services of young people suffering from somatoform symptoms. In this perspective, ED visits are to be considered as adolescents' unconscious attempt to seek psychological help. These findings evidence the importance of prevention programs based on increasing of awareness and acceptance of unconscious needs and on the promoting of use of adaptive defense mechanisms.

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Do alexithymic individuals avoid their feelings? Experiential avoidance mediates the association between alexithymia, psychosomatic, and depressive symptoms in a community and a clinical sample

Cited by 101 publications

References 67 publications

Describe Your Feelings: Body Illusion Related to Alexithymia in Adolescence

Describe Your Feelings: Body Illusion Related to Alexithymia in Adolescence

Mediator role of experiential avoidance in relationship of perceived stress and alexithymia with mental health

Somatoform Symptoms In Adolescents Who Visit The Emergency Department: Alexithymia And Defensive Strategies

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