Alexithymia

Little research has been conducted on the contribution of environmental
factors to the development of alexithymic tendencies. Ninety-two university students were surveyed to determine if features of the childhood family environment could predict the level of alexithymic tendencies. The 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale was used to measure alexithymic tendencies. Also surveyed retrospectively were dimensions of the childhood family environment such as the family’s level of cohesion, expressiveness, conflict, disengagement, sociability, enmeshment, organization, and parenting style. Multiple-regression analysis showed that the set of family environment variables did predict alexithymia scores. The sole family variable independently predictive of global alexithymic tendencies was expressiveness, although other family variables were predictive of individual components of alexithymia. The findings are consistent with the view that the childhood family environment has a bearing on the development of alexithymic tendencies, although other explanations by no means are excluded.

A SAMPLE CHAPTER, Chapter 6, from A General Theory of Emotions and Social Life (London and New York: Routledge, 2013) . Secondary emotions, continued: The eight tertiary dyads -- Resourcefulness and shock,  morbidness and resignation, sullenness and guilt, anxiety and outrage. The tertiary dyads, which, by definition, are composed of the eight pairs of primary emotions located three positions apart in Plutchik's 1962 wheel, are presented as four pairs of opposites.
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lexithymia generally refers to difficulties in identifying and de- scribing emotions. In this paper, two studies explored whether the emotion defi- cits observed in alexithymia may be related to the use of emotion regulation strategies. Relations with various sociodemographic variables were also explored. In the first study, 255 students completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale–20. For the second study, 1107 partic- ipants from the general population completed the ERQ and the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire. Results demonstrated that alexithymia was related to the use of a suppression strategy and in particular to difficulties verbalizing emotions, suggesting that the capacity to communicate and name one's emotion is a central aspect in alexithymia. Concerning sociodemographic variables, alexithymia and the use of a suppression strategy were found to be related to age and to be higher in males. The results of these studies and their clinical im- plications for treatment are discussed.

Objective: Considering the negative impact of infertility on the level of adjustment and stress in women, the present study aimed to examine the role of sexual self-esteem and alexithymia in predicting marital stress and adjustment of infertile women.
Methods: This research was a cross-sectional study. The study population consisted of all infertile women in Shiraz City, Iran (N=70000). A total of 400 women were selected through a non-random and purposeful sampling method, but the final sample consisted of 380 subjects. The study tools were a short form of sexual self-esteem scale for women, Locke-Wallace marital adjustment questionnaire, Stockholm-Tehran marital stress scale, and Toronto alexithymia scale. The obtained data were analyzed by the Pearson correlation and multivariate regression in the SPSS V. 26.
Results: The results showed a significant negative relationship between sexual self-esteem and marital stress as well as alexithymia and marital adjustment (P<0.01). Besides, the positive relationships between sexual self-esteem and marital adjustment and alexithymia and marital stress were significant (P<0.01). The results of multiple regression analysis demonstrated that alexithymia and sexual self-esteem could significantly predict marital stress and marital adjustment with the standard coefficient of 0.44 and 0.22, respectively.
Conclusion: Alexithymia and sexual self-esteem play essential roles in predicting adjustment and stress levels of infertile women, respectively. Accordingly, difficulty in emotional awareness at first, and then the low level of self-esteem in sexual function can decrease adjustment and increase stress in marital relationships.

The Twenty-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) was developed by Bagby et al.(1994a) and is a revised version of the earlier 26-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS; Taylor,Ryan, & Bagby, 1985). The TAS-20 has demonstrated good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. In the initial validational study, exploratory factor analysis of the TAS-20 with a student sample yielded a three factor structure congruent with the theoretical construct of alexithymia: (F1) difficulty identifying feelings and distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal; (F2) difficulty describing feelings to others; (F3)
externally-oriented thinking. Despite the absence of items on the TAS-20 directly assessing daydreaming and other imaginal activity, which were included on the TAS-26, the third factor, together with factor 2, seem to reflect the pensée opératoire (operatory thinking) component of
the alexithymia construct, viz., a cognitive style that shows a preference for the external details of everyday life rather than thought content related to feelings, fantasies, and other aspects of a person's inner experience (Marty & de M'Uzan, 1963; Nemiah et al., 1976). Subsequent
research showed that the externally-oriented thinking factor correlates significantly and negatively (r = -0.45, p < 0.01) with the fantasy subscale of the openness to experience dimension in the NEO Personality Inventory (Bagby, Taylor, & Parker, 1994b). Given that high scores on the fantasy subscale reflect a vivid imagination and capacity to create an interesting inner world, this finding indicates that the externally-oriented thinking factor of the TAS-20 adequately assesses the constricted imaginal processes facet of the alexithymia construct.

Alexithymia is a personality trait characterised by difficulty identifying and describing subjective emotional feelings, a restricted imagination, and an externally oriented style of thinking. Individuals with high levels of this trait are at risk of developing several common psychiatric disorders. The concept of alexithymia has evolved considerably over the past twenty years, and this important new work responds to the need for a definitive book on the subject. The research, theory and clinical issues surrounding alexithymia are discussed in depth, examining the psychological, biological and social aspects of the construct and their related outcomes. Featuring contributions from researchers and clinicians in the field of emotion processing and regulation, chapters include methods for assessing and reducing alexithymia, and research findings from diverse fields of scientific enquiry including genetics, neuroimaging studies, emotion regulation, attachment and trauma research, and comorbidities with a number of psychiatric and medical disorders. • Discusses the state of the art alexithymia research-there has not been a comprehensive book on the topic for more than twenty years • Demonstrates the relationship between alexithymia and various medical and psychiatric disorders, and offers therapeutic interventions for reducing this personality trait • The book will help to develop more integrative research and interventions in the future

The criterion validity of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale [TAS) was assessed by administering the scale to 46 patients referred to a behavioral medicine outpatient clinic. Clinical ratings derived from observed interviews served as the criterion. TAS scores were significantly higher for the group of patients identified by two out of three raters as "alexithymic" than for the group identified as "nonalexithymic." On the basis of these findings, preliminary TAS cutoff scores were suggested. The results from this study and from previous investigations assessing the reliability and construct validity of the TAS indicate that it is currently the psychometrically best-validated measure of alexithymia. Further refinement and cross-validation with other clinical samples are recommended.

Despite increasing empirical and theoretical work on empathy, particularly on the content of empathic representations, there is a relative lack of consensus regarding the information processing necessary for empathy to occur. Here we attempt to delineate a mechanistic cognitive model of empathy in order to provide a framework within which neuroimaging work on empathy can be located, and which may be used in order to understand various disorders characterised by atypical levels of empathy. To this end data from individuals with psychopathy, autism, and alexithymia inform the model, and the model is used to provide a unifying framework for any empathy impairments seen in these disorders. The model adopts a developmental framework and tries to address the four difficult questions of empathy: How do we know what another is feeling? What is the role of theory of mind in empathy? How does the state of another cause a corresponding state in the self? How do we represent another’s emotion once emotional contagion has taken place?

La Alexitimia es un problema que es más frecuente de lo que se suele pensar, y que afecta a las personas dificultando la convivencia.
Desde hace unos años se está haciendo un esfuerzo por parte de los psicólogos por divulgar la importancia de la Inteligencia Emocional y de cómo utilizarlo en beneficio propio y de los demás.
Este libro sigue esta línea de divulgación sobre los últimos avances con respecto a la Inteligencia Emocional, aplicado en este caso al estudio y análisis de la Alexitimia.


Objetivo:

El objetivo del libro es servir como primera aproximación a la rama emergente denominada Cronobiología.
Para ello se tratan los temas más relevantes ofreciendo resultados sobre las últimas investigaciones desarrolladas en los dos últimos años a lo largo del mundo sobre esta materia.
Todo ello explicado con un lenguaje claro y sencillo, alejado de los tecnicismos, explicando cada concepto, de forma que pueda servir como una verdadera guía de iniciación.


Destinatarios:

- Profesionales de la salud que se tienen que quieren profundizar en el diagnóstico y tratamiento de la Alexitimia.
- A profesores que quieren ofrecer información actualizada a sus alumnos sobre la Alexitimia.
- A cualquier persona interesada en conocer por qué no es capaz de conocer y expresar correctamente su emociones, ni puede interpretar adecuadamente la de los demás.


Temática

- ¿Cómo decir "Te Quiero" y no morir en el intento?

Seguro que conoces a alguien, o te pasa a ti mismo, que en ocasiones tienes dificultades para expresar tus emociones, sobre todo si es a la hora de declarar tu amor diciendo, "Te Quiero"
Pero, además, hay personas que en realidad no saben lo que sienten por las otras personas, y lo más preocupante, son incapaces de entender los sentimientos de los demás por uno mismo.
A esto es a lo que se denomina Alexitimia, y está más extendido de lo que pensamos, estimándose que afecta a 1 de cada diez personas a nivel mundial.
Descubre todas las claves en este libro, ¿Qué es?, ¿A quién afecta?, ¿Se puede tratar?

- ¿Se puede prevenir la Alexitimia?

"Los hombres no lloran" ha sido una coletilla usada durante mucho tiempo con los más pequeños, haciendo que estos no supiesen expresar sus emociones de forma sana.
Lo que ha provocado una sociedad con "analfabetos emocionales" en palabras de Daniel Goleman, padre de la Inteligencia Emocional.
Descubre cómo desde el gobierno de Canarias se corrigen estos errores, educando a los pequeños para conocer y expresar adecuadamente las propias emociones, a la vez que se aprender a comprender y aceptar las emociones de los demás.

- ¿Sabes que altos niveles de Alexitimia se asocian con problemas relacionados con el campo de la Psicología?

Si pensabas que sufrir Alexitimia no tenía mayores consecuencias que "perder un amor" por no decirle "Te quiero".
Has de saber que el no saber cómo expresar tus emociones, ya sean estas positivas o negativas, van a asociarse con las adicciones, los trastornos de la alimentación o los trastornos de personalidad psicopáticos.
Aprende cuál es esta relación y cómo se puede tratar, para superarlo.


Autor:

Juan Moisés de la Serna ha dedicado parte de la vida al estudio e investigación del comportamiento humano, indagando en las inquietudes y motivaciones que llevan a conseguir nuestros objetivos y metas. Este conocimiento científico se complementa con la experiencia adquirida durante su trabajo como terapeuta.
Actualmente trabaja como profesor universitario, complementado con una activa tarea de divulgación a través de conferencias, libros y artículos científicos


Agradecimientos

Aprovechar desde aquí para agradecer a todas las personas que han colaborado con sus aportaciones en la realización de este texto, especialmente al Gobierno de Canarias, al Dr. Pedro Luis Nieto,

This paper is the seventh report on a single experimental study of alexithymia in corpus callosotomy patients and precision-matched normal controls. This comparison is based on the hypothesis that, insofar as affective verbal expression is enhanced by cortical activities linking the nonverbal representations of emotions (feelings and symbols) of the right hemisphere of the brain to the verbalization capabilities of the left hemisphere, corpus callosotomy patients--lacking the cortical connections to make such interhemispheric exchange possible--would be alexithymic.

In this paper, I compare the three main theories that are debated in the literature of empathy and mind-reading. I review evidence and debates to suggest that simulation theory has explanatory advantages when considering psychopathologies of empathy, mainly autism. I draw on psychiatric literature to show parallels between defects of simulation and conditions such as alexithymia. I conclude that access to own mind and emotions is needed for healthy affective empathetic experience.

Ce mémoire a 2 objectifs, l'un tente de mettre en évidence l'apport de la psychomotricité dans une transdisciplinarité
au sein d'un service hospitalier d'addictologie où des patients alcoolo-dépendants suivent une cure de sevrage de 3
semaines. Cette intervention psychomotrice comprendrait 2 modalités : des séances de groupe et des séances
individuelles pendant la cure puis lors de soins en ambulatoire.
Après avoir présenté la dépendance alcoolique, nous proposons, à travers des séances psychomotrices, une démarche
thérapeutique basée sur une exploration des items de la structuration psychocorporelle. Par l'enrichissement des
perceptions corporelles, le deuxième objectif est d'évaluer l'impact de cet accompagnement :
• sur les capacités de ces patients alcoolo-dépendants à identifier, à exprimer leurs émotions et
• sur le réaménagement de leurs représentations de soi.
Dans ce cadre, nous constaterons chez ces patients une possibilité d'élaborer un sentiment de soi nouveau, redevenant
des sujets porteurs d'une identité, potentiellement capables de changements dans leurs conduites addictives.
Nous discuterons aussi sur les limites d'une telle thérapie et sur le positionnement du psychomotricien qui, par son
empathie, par ses connaissances des jeux transférentiels et son implication tonico-émotionnelle, viendra étayer ce
processus vertueux.
Mots clés : Dépendance alcoolique – Alexithymie – Représentation corporelle – Empathie – Contre-transfert –Identité

Abstract :
This dissertation has 2 goals, one tries to highlight the contribution of the psychomotricity in a transdisciplinarity way
in a hospital department of addictology where alcoholic patients follow a 3 weeks weaning cure. This psychomotor
care would include 2 methods : group sessions and individual sessions during the cure and then in a outpatient care.
After having presented the alcohol dependency, we propose, through psychomotor sessions, a therapeutic approach
based on an exploration of the psychocorporal structuring items. Thanks to the enrichment of the physical perceptions
and the background feelings, the second goal is to estimate the impact of this therapy :
• on the patient capacities to identify, to express their emotions and
• on the reorganisation of the representation of self.
In this framework, we will see a possibility of developing a new sense of self among these alcohol-dependent patients.
They become subjects with an identity, potentially capables to change their addictive behaviors.
We will also discuss the limits of such therapy and the positioning of the psychomotor therapist who, by his empathy,
by its knowledge of the transference mechanisms and his tonic-emotional involvement, will support this virtuous
process.
Keywords : Alcohol dependency – Alexithymia – Body representation – Empathy – Counter-transference– Identity

Writing has never been more exicting than before, although the asemic writing that emerges has to be understood as the amorphous form of any common alphabetical writings. Asemic writing intends to explore the field that has not yet been distinguished, when the practice has not yet separated by definition between anulis (writing) and anglukis (painting). Nevertheless, it may be assumed that it was being written in a language we are not yet familiar with. Unaware of those asemic movement, two of Indonesian prominent artist has been practicing the mode of mark making verisimilitude asemic writings. Made Wianta (1949-2020), Balinese Indonesian master of painting, poet and calligrapher, turned his painting into realm of calligraphy and vice versa. another prominent Chinese Calligrapher in 2020, Tjuju Widaja 79 year old from Bandung, get her doctoral degree from local public university by releasing the strokes of chinese characters from its origin meaning into experimenting layers in surfaces calligraphic painting. This article here intends to convey a number of concepts that are expected to be related in the effort to cultivate the asemic writing as language as well as images. The interplay between visible and invisible give much more mistery than it may seems. The truthful of meaningful world seem hiding behind the visible, it awaitings in ways that are more drawn out be recognized, yet once it occurs to surface, all of sudden it shades away back to the edge, challenging us to figure out what was it anyway. Asemic is becoming of a system without structure, a meaningful with no grounded semantical meaning.

Notre travail de thèse porte sur l’analyse des rapports entre le normal et le pathologique à la lumière d’un trouble du comportement alimentaire : l’anorexie mentale. Nous cherchons conjointement à élaborer un modèle d’intelligibilité de l’anorexie mentale, et à déterminer ce que ce modèle nous enseigne du rapport normal et sain au corps. La normalité relève-t-elle d’une différence de nature ou de degré avec l’état psychopathologique ? Le critère de la normalité peut-il être saisi dans l’expérience antérieure au développement du trouble chez le sujet anorexique ? Peut-il être recherché dans une norme sociale extérieure au sujet ? Nous avançons que le critère de la normalité ne peut être découvert que de manière immanente, au cœur de l’expérience pathologique et de celle de la rémission. C’est donc à la conceptualisation de ces dernières que nous avons dû nous consacrer. 

Notre travail comprend la conceptualisation de l’anorexie mentale comme d’une forme de production aliénée de la subjectivité dans le contexte sociologique déterminé de l’individualisme moderne. Nous nous appuyons premièrement sur les travaux de Dorothée Legrand, qui, à partir de la notion phénoménologique de « conscience de soi corporelle », voient dans l’anorexie mentale une rupture des liens typiquement complémentaires entre le corps-comme-sujet (le corps vécu depuis une perspective interne) et le corps-comme-objet (le corps visé, perçu extérieurement, mais aussi en tant qu’il partage une matérialité commune avec d’autres objets). Le sujet anorexique est celui qui, d’après cette conceptualité, cherche à transformer, de manière contrôlée, son corps-objet, afin d’en faire une matérialisation ou expression de sa subjectivité. Paradoxalement, l’amaigrissement et même la « négation » du corps-objet sont « auto-constitutives » en ce sens qu’elles contribuent à exprimer et consolider la subjectivité. Le sujet anorexique s’affirme à travers la modification contrôlée de son corps-objet : il fait de la dimension objective de son corps une sorte de miroir de sa subjectivité. Il peut alors, à partir de cette extériorisation maîtrisée, rechercher la validation de sa condition de sujet par d’autres sujets.

C’est parce que le vécu du corps-sujet est trop faible chez la personne anorexique, et celui du corps-objet hypertrophié, qu’elle tente de contrôler le corps-objet pour en faire un support externe doué d’une capacité expressive du soi et par suite une attestation de sa propre existence. Nous pouvons alors comprendre l’anorexie mentale dans une perspective hégélienne : le sujet anorexique « travaille » son corps pour y apposer le « sceau » de son intériorité, les déterminations de sa conscience. Ce faisant, il arrache à la matérialité brute du corps son caractère d’étrangeté et peut s’y reconnaître ; de même, il peut, à l’issue de son travail, obtenir des autres sujets une reconnaissance. Nous pensons cependant que ce modèle n’épuise pas la compréhension de l’anorexie mentale.

Selon nous, l’anorexie mentale relève plutôt d’une stratégie à composante addictive par laquelle, tout à la fois, le sujet tente de devenir un individu performant sur la scène sociale, et échappe à une réelle expression de sa subjectivité. Nous pensons que le « soi » du sujet anorexique est une notion opaque pour lui, dont les contours sont mal définis, et qu’il ne peut par suite extérioriser les composantes de ce « soi » dans le corps-objet. Comment le pourrait-il, en effet, s’il ne se connaît pas réellement lui-même ? Nous avançons ainsi que l’anorexie mentale procède d’une angoisse fondamentale : celle de l’indétermination de la subjectivité, notamment en raison de la prévalence de l’alexithymie dans la personnalité. Or, cette indétermination subjective interne coexiste, dans les sociétés occidentales modernes, avec l’injonction, intensément ressentie par les sujets anorexiques perfectionnistes, d’être « quelqu’un » – c’est-à-dire de devenir un individu accompli et d’obtenir à ce titre une validation sociale. Enfin, comme le mettent en évidence les travaux de Hilde Bruch, les personnes anorexiques souffrent d’un « sentiment d’inefficacité » intrinsèque, qui les persuade qu’elles ne sont pas réellement capables d’atteindre l’autonomie et d’avoir une incidence positive sur le monde extérieur par leurs efforts. L’amaigrissement joue alors un triple rôle : (a) il délivre une identité de substitution (sorte de « faux-self ») à la personne anorexique qui ne parvient pas à savoir qui elle est, (b) il permet, via cette identité substitutive, d’apparaître comme un individu ultra-performant dont les qualités de discipline et de réussite sont saluées par les autres, (c) il privilégie le rapport immédiat au corps et échappe aux difficultés propres à d’autres formes d’accomplissement individuel, comme le travail, qui mettent le sujet en relation avec une réalité extérieure potentiellement aléatoire et immaîtrisable. Le corps, lui, est a priori directement soumis à la volonté du sujet.

À l’issue de nos analyses, nous pouvons mettre en évidence les articulations nodales de la rémission, qui relèvent de l’acquisition d’une réelle autonomie par le sujet. Celle-ci est indissociable (1) d’une capacité à connaître et à discerner ses états émotionnels internes et à développer une notion immanente du « soi » qui n’est alors plus indexée sur des indices externes ; et (2) corrélativement, d’une aptitude à démêler les signaux inhérents au corps et à atteindre une forme corporelle dont la norme est donnée par le corps lui-même. Quand le corps n’est plus chargé de symboliser une subjectivité dont les notions internes sont trop faibles voire inexistantes (alexithymie et faible sentiment intrinsèque du soi), il peut alors obéir à des normes qui lui sont propres, ce qui constitue le critère du rapport sain au corps. Le rapport pathologique au corps est ainsi celui qui instrumentalise le corps pour en faire la preuve externe compensatoire d’une subjectivité vécue comme inexistante et discontinue ; le rapport sain au corps est celui, qui affranchi de cette finalité d’être le marqueur externe de la subjectivité, peut se régler sur ses propres besoins.

Our research focuses on analysing the relationship between normality and pathology in light of an eating disorder: anorexia nervosa.  Our aim is twofold: achieving a better understanding of anorexia nervosa, whilst also assessing how this clearer view can help us grasp what constitutes a normal healthy relationship to one’s body. Does normality differ in degree or in essence from this psychopathological condition?  Can normality be extrapolated from the patient’s previous experience before the onset of anorexia? Can it be found in the social norm outside of the patient? We argue that the criterion of normality can only emerge and emanate from the heart of the pathological experience and its subsequent recovery. We were therefore compelled to focus our study on a definition of the latter two.

Our research includes a conceptual definition of anorexia nervosa as an alienated by-product of subjectivity within the determined sociological context of modern individualism.  We base our study on the findings of Dorothée Legrand who, starting from the phenomenological notion of “bodily self-consciousness”, reaches a vision of anorexia nervosa as a rupture of the typical relationship between the ‘‘body-as-subject’’ (the body perceived from the inside) and the ‘‘body-as-object’’ (the body perceived and targeted from the outside, as sharing its existence with other external objects). According to this definition, an anorexic patient seeks to transform, in a controlled fashion, her own object-body in order to turn it into a material expression of her subjectivity. Paradoxically, losing weight and becoming thin, even to the point of reaching a negation of the object-body, are inherent parts of the process insofar as they contribute to expressing and consolidating the patient’s subjectivity. The anorexic patient’s self-affirmation is achieved through the controlled modification of her object-body: she uses her objective dimension as a mirror of her own subjectivity. She is then able, from that exteriorised controlled manifestation, to seek self-recognition from others.

The fact that the awareness of the subject-body is too weak in an anorexic patient, as opposed to an overpowering object-body, leads her into trying to control the object-body in an attempt to turn it into an external prop for expressing her inner self, and thus bearing witness to her own existence.  This allows us to understand anorexia nervosa in a Hegelian perspective: the anorexic patient works on her body, so as to stamp it with the seal of her own inner self, determined by her own conscience. This enables her to escape the estrangement of her own raw material body and allows her to inhabit a body she recognises as her own; the workings on her body will also allow her to achieve self-recognition from others. However, this definition does not cover the full extent of anorexia nervosa.

In our opinion, anorexia nervosa appears to be a partly addictive strategy through which the patient attempts to become a socially integrated individual, whilst avoiding a true expression of her inner subjective “self”.  We think that the anorexic patient’s notion of self is opaque and ill-defined, hence hard to exteriorize within the object-body.  Indeed, how could she express something she does not fully grasp (or maybe, rather, « experience »)?  We suggest that anorexia nervosa stems from a fundamental anxiety: that of an undetermined subjectivity, due notably to a predominance of alexithymia in the personality. Interestingly, this lack of subjective self-awareness coexists in our modern western society with a pressure, keenly felt by perfectionist anorexics, to be “someone”, i.e., to become an accomplished individual and be granted social recognition as such.  Lastly, as revealed by Hilde Bruche’s work, anorexic people intrinsically suffer from a feeling of “inefficiency”, which makes them convinced they are not really capable of leading autonomous lives and to have a positive impact on the outside world despite their efforts.  Achieving thinness therefore brings three outcomes: (a) it provides a substitute identity (a kind of “fake self”) to the anorexic person unable to find out who she is, (b) it allows them, through this substituted identity, to appear like a highly performing individual, admired by others for their self-discipline and high achievement, (c) it allows an immediate relationship to their body and provides an escape from other personal achievement demands, such as work, which confront them with an external reality potentially uncontrollable and unpredictable. On the opposite, the body is perceived as ultimately self-controlled.

Our analyses lead to an understanding of the key stages of recovery, which depend on the patient gaining real autonomy.  This autonomy can only be achieved firstly through a capacity by the patient to identify and understand her own inner emotions and develop an immanent “self” awareness, no longer dependent on external parameters, and secondly through an ability to understand signals inherent to her own body and achieve a body shape adapted to the body itself. When the body is no longer forced to be the symbol of a subjectivity based on a weak or non-existent self-awareness (alexithymia), it can then fulfill its own individual norms. This is the criterion of a healthy and normal relationship to one’s body.  Thus, a pathological state is that of a body being used as physical proof and compensation for a subjectivity experienced as non-existent and ill defined; whereas a healthy relationship to one’s body is one which follows its own needs, freed from the coercion to be the externalised marker of a subjective state of confusion.

Objective: Some researchers have questioned the stability of the three-factor structure of the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) or the reliability of one or more factors of the scale. The aim of this study was to assess the replicability of the factor structure of the TAS-20 in a large community sample and to determine also whether the same three-factor structure can be recovered in men and women. The study also assessed the reliability of the scale and the influence of gender, age, and education on TAS-20 scores. Method: The TAS-20 was administered to 1933 adults (880 men and 1053 women) residing in several small cities and towns in Ontario, Canada. The factor structure of the scale was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results: The three-factor structure of the TAS-20 was replicable in the entire community sample and also separately in men and women. The TAS-20 and its three factors demonstrated internal reliability, and the variables of gender, age, and education accounted for relatively small or modest amounts of variability in total TAS-20 and factor scale scores. Conclusion: The results provide strong support for the reliability and factorial validity of the TAS-20 and indicate the importance of using CFA when assessing the replicability and theoretical integrity of the factor structure of the scale.

Bu çalışmanın amacı, çocuklarda aleksitimi, duygusal zekâ ve sosyal anksiyete
arasındaki ilişkinin araştırılmasıdır. Araştırmanın örneklemini, 2018 yılında Siirt İli Eruh
İlçesinde öğrenimine devam eden 9-11 yaşları arasındaki 305 öğrenci oluşturmaktadır.
Çalışmada, evren temsili için oluşturulan örneklemde katılımcıların sosyodemografik
olarak incelenmesi için “Kişisel Bilgi Formu”, aleksitimi düzeylerinin belirlenmesi için
“Çocuklar İçin Aleksitimi Ölçeği”, duygusal zekâ düzeylerinin tespiti için “Bar-On
Duygusal Zeka Ölçeği (Çocuk ve Ergen Formu)” ve sosyal anksiyete düzeylerinin tespiti
için “Çocuklar İçin Sosyal Anksiyete Ölçeği” uygulanmıştır. Verilerin analizinde
bağımsız gruplar t testi ve tek yönlü varyans analizi kullanılmıştır. Tek yönlü varyans
analizinde grup ortalamaları arasındaki farklılıkların kaynağını belirlemek için Scheffe
testi yapılmıştır. Çocukların duygusal zekâ düzeyleriyle aleksitimi ve sosyal anksiyete
düzeyleri arasındaki ilişki çoklu regresyon analiziyle incelenmiştir. Bağımlı değişkenler
arasındaki ilişkilerde ise yalnızca aleksitiminin duyguları tanıma güçlüğü alt boyutu ile
duygusal zekâ düzeyleri arasında manidar bir ilişkiye ulaşılmış ve bu ilişkinin düşük
düzeyde yordacı olduğu bulgusu elde edilmiştir. Çalışma sonucunda çocuklara erken
yaşta duygu tanıma, tanımlama ve ifade odaklı psikoeğitsel grup çalışmaları
düzenlenebileceği ve Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı önemine binaen ilkokul ve ortaokulların
okul rehberlik çerçeve planlarında yer vermesi önerilebilir.

RIASSUNTO: Obiettivo: Questo studio si è proposto di indagare gli effetti della disregolazione affettiva e dei processi dissociativi sulle esperienze traumatiche al fine di verificare un modello psicopatologico a matrice relazionale centrato sulla teoria dell&#x27;attaccamento. Metodo: Ad un gruppo di 96 studenti che frequentano l&#x27;ultimo anno della scuola superiore sono stati somministrati i test A-DES, TAS 20 e TSI-A. I dati ottenuti sono stati elaborati attraverso procedure di analisi statistica. Risultati I punteggi ottenuti dai ...

Alexithymia is a trait comprising people's ability to focus attention on and accurately appraise their own emotions. Its assessment is of clinical interest because people who have difficulty processing their negative and positive emotions are more vulnerable to developing psychopathology symptoms, however, existing alexithymia measures cannot comprehensively assess the construct across both negative and positive emotions. In this paper, we attempt to remedy these measurement limitations by developing and validating a new 24-item self-report measure, the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ), which is based on the attention-appraisal model of alexithymia. In Study 1, our confirmatory factor analyses in a sample of 231 adults suggested that the PAQ had a factor structure consistent with its theoretical basis; it could separately measure all components of the construct and do so across negative and positive emotions. All subscale and composite scores had high internal consistency reliability. Study 2 (N = 748) replicated these findings with respect to the PAQ's factor structure and internal consistency reliability, and statistical comparisons with measures of psychopathology and emotion regulation supported the PAQ's concurrent and discriminant validity. Our data therefore suggest that the PAQ has strong psychometric properties as a measure of alexithymia. Clinical and research applications are discussed.

During the past decade, the alexithymia construct has undergone theoretical refinements and empirical testings and has evolved into a potential new paradigm for understanding the influence of emotions and personality on physical illness and health.

A second version of this essay, published in the "Encyclopedia of Creativity," 2nd edition, Volume I, pp. 588-594, edited by Mark A. Runco and Steven R. Pritzker. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
SUMMARY: In this entry, I place the study of handwriting in historical context, ranging from the roots of graphology as a form of magic, to scientific graphonomics. The relationship between handwriting and creativity is examined with the example of the handwriting of split-brain patients and normal controls. It is found that the patients have disconnected, pathological handwriting lacking both creative organization and creative aspiration. While Bogen discovered dysgraphic in the left hand (indicating the right hemisphere lacks ability to write), the analysis presented suggests an expression dysgraphia in the right hand (indicating the left hemisphere of these patients (who lack access to symbolization and affect of the right hemisphere) can write, but in a flat and uninvolved manner that reveals a lack of affect, that is, an alexithymia.