INDEPENDENCY OF ALEXITHYMIA AND SOMATIZATION - A FACTOR-ANALYTIC STUDY

In discussions on the several methodological limitations in the assess ment of alexithymia, uncertainty still remains about whether alexithym ia and somatization are distinct constructs or whether they share over lapping symptomatology and constructs, as suggested by previous studie s. In this study, 379 normal adults completed the newly developed 20-i tem Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and a screening list for DSM-II I-R somatization disorder Items from both the TAS-20 and the somatizat ion checklist were subjected to factor analysis, resulting in separate factor loadings according to these two scales. These results were rep licated and cross-validated in a sample of 125 psychosomatic inpatient s, supporting the view of an independency between alexithymia and soma tization.