Alexithymia

Is alexithymia an emotion or a disease?

People with alexithymia do not lack emotions but are not aware that these are usually accompanied by certain physiological symptoms, such as sweating, muscle tension or stomach pain, among others. For this reason, when they suffer any of these symptoms, they do not attribute it to an emotion and, therefore, they can interpret them as signs of a possible disease (for example, an alexithymic person is not aware that the palpitations they suffer may be due to anxiety problems).

According to different statistics, alexithymia is a more frequent disability in men than in women and, in many cases, it is accompanied by other psychological problems, such as psychosomatic disorders.

What is an alexithymic person like?

Broadly speaking, a person with alexithymia tends to appear like this:

• They have difficulties expressing their own emotions and differentiating them (for example, they do not know if what they are feeling is fear or anger), as well as detecting and understanding the emotional states of others.
• Show a stiff and expressionless posture.
• Their behavior is based on logic and practice, leaving little room for affective aspects.
• Make decisions based on rational and functional aspects, without taking into account intuition and emotional aspects. Not being able to make decisions quickly, based on emotions, you can become distressed by the need to make personal decisions.
• They do not usually have fantasies or daydreams, they do not use their imagination and they have little capacity for introspection or for contact with their subjective internal world. Consequently, it tends to be concerned with external and objective events.
• His thinking is rather concrete and his communication style monotonous, without affective nuances, gestures, modulations or changes in the tone of voice.
• They usually face conflict situations with action, impulsively, carrying out direct and practical behaviors.
• May have sociability problems by being indifferent and distant. At the same time, they are usually very conformist, attached to conventional rules and regulations and to relate in a very stereotypical way with others.

How is it treated?

The psychological treatment of alexithymia involves helping the person to become aware of their own emotions, to recognize them, differentiate them and channel them properly. For this, it will be vitally important to work focusing attention on the expressions that usually accompany these emotions, such as physiological symptoms, gestures, movements or tone of voice, among others.

• Alexithymia is the inability to identify one's own emotions and, consequently, to express what one feels.
• People with alexithymia have behavior based on logic and practice.
• Psychological treatment involves helping the person to become aware of their own emotions, to recognize them, differentiate them and channel them properly. Check the

Elena Killed

Specialist in Clinical Psychology