Alexithymia profiles and depression, anxiety, and stress

David A Preece; Ashish Mehta; Kate Petrova; Pilleriin Sikka; Ethan Pemberton; James J Gross

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2024.02.071

Alexithymia profiles and depression, anxiety, and stress

J Affect Disord. 2024 Jul 15:357:116-125. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.02.071. Epub 2024 Feb 20.

Authors

David A Preece¹, Ashish Mehta², Kate Petrova², Pilleriin Sikka³, Ethan Pemberton⁴, James J Gross²

Affiliations

¹ Curtin University, Curtin enAble Institute & School of Population Health, Australia; Stanford University, Department of Psychology, Stanford, United States of America; The University of Western Australia, School of Psychological Science, Australia. Electronic address: david.preece@curtin.edu.au.
² Stanford University, Department of Psychology, Stanford, United States of America.
³ Stanford University, Department of Psychology, Stanford, United States of America; University of Turku, Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, Finland; University of Turku, Turku Brain and Mind Center, Finland; University of Skövde, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Philosophy, Sweden.
⁴ Edith Cowan University, Psychology Department, Perth, Australia.

PMID: 38387670
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.02.071

Abstract

Background: Alexithymia is a multidimensional trait comprised of difficulties identifying feelings, difficulties describing feelings, and externally orientated thinking. It is regarded as an important risk factor for emotional disorders, but there are presently limited data on each specific facet of alexithymia, or the extent to which deficits in processing negative emotions, positive emotions, or both, are important. In this study, we address these gaps by using the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ) to comprehensively examine the relationships between alexithymia and depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms.

Methods: University students (N = 1250) completed the PAQ and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21. Pearson correlations, hierarchical regressions, and latent profile analysis were conducted.

Results: All facets of alexithymia, across both valence domains, were significantly correlated with depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms (r = 0.27-0.40). Regression analyses indicated that the alexithymia facets, together, could account for a significant 14.6 %-16.4 % of the variance in depression, anxiety, and stress. Difficulties identifying negative feelings and difficulties identifying positive feelings were the strongest unique predictors across all symptom categories. Our latent profile analysis extracted eight profiles, comprising different combinations of alexithymia facets and psychopathology symptoms, collectively highlighting the transdiagnostic relevance of alexithymia facets.

Limitations: Our study involved a student sample, and further work in clinical samples will be beneficial.

Conclusions: Our data indicate that all facets of alexithymia, across both valence domains, are relevant for understanding depression, anxiety, and stress. These findings demonstrate the value of facet-level and valence-specific alexithymia assessments, informing more comprehensive understanding and more targeted treatments of emotional disorder symptoms.

Keywords: Alexithymia; Anxiety; Depression; Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21; Perth alexithymia questionnaire; Psychopathology.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Affective Symptoms* / epidemiology
Affective Symptoms* / psychology
Anxiety* / psychology
Depression* / psychology
Emotions
Female
Humans
Male
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Stress, Psychological* / psychology
Students / psychology
Students / statistics & numerical data
Surveys and Questionnaires
Young Adult