اکتشاف نظری و تجربی از شباهت های بین کرختی عاطفی در اختلال استرس پس از سانحه و آلکسی تایمیا

This study rationally and scientifically examines the similarities between the emotional numbing symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alexithymia. A clinical database from the Iowa City Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center consisting of data from 274 combat veterans was used. Significant positive correlations were found between measures of PTSD, alexithymia, and combat exposure. Principal components analysis supported a lack of independence between PTSD subscales and alexithymia, as all variables loaded on one factor best labeled PTSD. This article presents both theoretical and empirical evidence suggesting that in traumatized persons, alexithymia may be better conceptualized as the emotional numbing aspect of PTSD rather than as a distinct construct.

Alexithymia is a clinically derived concept referring to a cognitive-affective disturbance characterized by difficulty experiencing and expressing emotions (Taylor, 1984). Taylor, Bagby, and Parker (1991) noted that as early work on the concept began to converge, four salient features were identified: “(1) difficulty in identifying and describing feelings; (2) difficulty in distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal; (3) constricted imaginative processes, as evidenced by a paucity of fantasies; and (4) an externally oriented cognitive style” (p. 155). Each of these features continues to be important in the concept; although, a more global description of alexithymia as a difficulty experiencing and expressing emotions is commonly used (see Lesser, 1981, Taylor, 1984 and Taylor et al., 1991 for reviews).