Subjective and autonomic stress responses in alexithymia
Year: 2001
Type: article
Abstract: "Alexithymia refers to a specific disturbance in emotional processing that is manifested through difficultiesin identifying and verbalizing feelings. The main objective of this investigation has been thestudy about the relationship between subjective and autonomic physiological reactivity pattern tostressful laboratory situation, related with alexithymia level, assessed by the Toronto Alexithymia Scale,TAS-20. The experiment involved six phases: I-adaptation, II-relaxation, III-stress (mental arithmetic),IV-relaxation, V-stress (watching a distressing film), and VI-relaxation. During all periods, thesubjective self-perception of physiological activation and autonomic reactivity (using the Palmar SweatIndex), was assessed. Results showed a significantly dissociation by group between subjective selfperceptionof physiological arousal and self-perception of affective arousal in questionnaire scores, duringadaptation period exclusively. The results dont show significant correlations among groups betweenthe subjective self-perception of activation and the autonomous reactivity. These results are discussedin terms of their alexithymic characteristics they are associated with autonomic arousal."
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W2116926781