ALEXITHYMIA AND PHYSIOLOGICAL REACTIVITY TO EMOTION-PROVOKING VISUAL SCENES

Alexithymia, a syndrome that involves a marked inability to name feeli ngs, has been Linked to psychosomatic illness. This study addressed th e question of whether alexithymia tendencies are related to heightened levels of autonomic response to extrinsic cues. Alexithymia was asses sed with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and by the emotional content of stories written to five TAT-like printed pictures. Seventy-two colleg e students were exposed to a series of emotion-provoking slides while their heart rates and electrodermal responses were recorded. Results i ndicated a trend for alexithymic tendencies to be associated with less heart rate increase and fewer electrodermal responses while viewing t he slides. Alexithymia was also associated with a small but significan t elevation in baseline heart rate. These findings are discussed as pa rt of a pattern of results which calls into question the hypothesis th at alexithymia is related to illness because it produces hyperarousal to situational stressors; it is suggested that future research on the relationship between alexithymia and health status should be broadened to explore health-maintenance behaviors and other possible mechanisms .