WHAT DOES THE TORONTO ALEXITHYMIA SCALE TAS-R MEASURE

One hundred seventy four inpatients of a psychosomatic hospital were e xamined with the revised version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale TAS- R, as well as further measures of emotionality, somatization, psychopa thology and personality. A significant association was found between T AS alexithymia and the number of somatoform symptoms. This association , however, disappeared when it was corrected for the possible impact o f depression. The factor 1 of the TAS (ability to describe feelings to others) correlated significantly with the use of negative emotional w ords. Thus TAS alexithymics do not use less, but more emotional words, especially words describing negative feelings. The validity of factor 2 (externally oriented thinking) seems to be low. TAS alexithymia may measure specific aspects of depression or general distress. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.