The mediating effects of cognitive emotion regulation strategies on the relationship between alexithymia and physical symptoms: Evidence from Iranian asthmatic patients

Ghorbani, Fatemeh; Khosravani, Vahid; Ardakani, Razieh Jamaati; Alvani, Amin; Akbari, Hedayat

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2016.11.015

Cited by 18 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…We expected that the TAS-20 DIF subscale (but not the TAS-20 DDF and EOT subscales) would have a direct effect on physical symptoms and an indirect effect via affective empathy (but not cognitive empathy) and negative affect. We explored these effects by controlling for asthma severity because of its associations with negative affect (Richardson et al, 2006), empathy (Witusik et al, 2018) and physical symptoms (Ghorbani et al, 2017). Khosravani, Najafi, Naragon-Gainey, & Mohammadzadeh, 2019).…”

Section: Key Practitioner Messagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alexithymia, which includes difficulty in the expression of feelings and is highly prevalent in alexithymic asthma individuals (Ghorbani et al, 2017;Khosravani et al, 2016), may reduce empathy skills (Çaka, Topal, Nemut, & Çınar, 2018;Gramaglia et al, 2016) and psychophysiological responses to empathy in individuals with physical symptoms (Peng et al, 2019). Recognizing others' emotional and cognitive states (i.e.…”

Section: Structural Equation Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, there are some studies similar to this topic. For example, Ghorbani et al (2017) found that alexithymia indirectly affects physical symptoms via dysregulation in emotional distress in asthma patients. Some studies have reported that the TAS-20 DIF subscale indirectly (via negative affect:…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a personality trait designed by Sifneos (1973), alexithymia has been found to be high in asthma patients (Aouadi et al, 2015; Ghorbani, Khosravani, Ardakani, Alvani, & Akbari, 2017; Khosravani, Alvani, Bastan, Ardakani, & Akbari, 2016). Alexithymia is associated with dysthymia and panic troubles, decreased pulmonary function, poor asthma control, high emergency room visits, irregular follow‐up or poor adherence to asthma treatment and poor quality of life in patients with asthma (Aouadi et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alexithymia may be a risk factor for developing psychiatric conditions or disorders (De Berardis et al, 2017; De Berardis et al, 2019; Khosravani, Ardestani, Bastan, & Kamali, 2017; Serafini et al, 2020). It has been found that alexithymia is associated with physical symptoms in asthma patients (Feldman, Lehrer, & Hochron, 2002; Ghorbani et al, 2017; Khosravani et al, 2016). Also, evidence has strongly shown the association of the TAS‐20 DIF subscale, but not the DDF and EOT subscales, with unexplained or physical symptoms, physical pain and somatization (Bailey & Henry, 2007; De Gucht, 2002; De Gucht, Fischler, & Heiser, 2004a, 2004b; Di Tella et al, 2017; Di Tella & Castelli, 2016; Klinger‐König et al, 2018; Martínez et al, 2015; Riem, Doedée, Broekhuizen‐Dijksman, & Beijer, 2018; Van Den Houte et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Alexithymia, empathy, negative affect and physical symptoms in patients with asthma

Khosravani

Ardestani

Alvani

et al. 2020

Clin Psychology and Psychoth

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Although alexithymia has been found to be associated with physical symptoms in psychosomatic disorders such as asthma, mechanisms linking this association are unknown. However, affective alexithymic features may be associated with physical symptoms in the presence of deficits in affective characteristics such as low empathy and high negative affect. This study aimed to assess direct effects of alexithymic traits on physical symptoms and indirect effects of these subscales through empathy and negative affect (e.g. depressive, anxious and stress symptoms) by controlling for asthma severity in patients with asthma. Three hundred patients with asthma completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20), the Basic Empathy Scale (BES), the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) and the Physical Symptoms Inventory (PSI). After controlling for asthma severity, the results showed that alexithymia subscales of the TAS-20 had no direct effects on physical symptoms, but the difficulty in identifying feelings (DIF) subscale of the TAS-20 was associated with affective empathy and negative affect. Affective empathy was significantly related to negative affect. Affective empathy and negative affect were associated with physical symptoms. The affective subscale of alexithymia on the TAS-20, that is DIF, indirectly affected physical symptoms through affective empathy and negative affect. Findings suggest that patients with asthma who have high levels of DIF may show high physical symptoms in the presence of low affective empathy and high negative affect.

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