Emotion regulation & Alexithymia

Alexithymia is a multifaceted construct that is characterized by difficulties identifying one’s feelings; difficulties describing one’s feelings to others; and an externally focused, utilitarian cognitive style. It is nowadays attracting attention as a fundamental personality dimension at the interface of cognition and emotion. It is also considered a transdiagnostic risk factor for several mental and physical conditions.

Alexithymia influences several aspects of how one perceives and responds to emotional situations, by impacting upon multiple processes (attention, appraisals, executive function, memory, language and behaviour), showing the importance of drawing better connections amongst multiple processes, toward disentangling the effects of early processes on later ones. A central finding is the correspondence between alexithymia facets and processes, which is thought to lead to ineffective and inflexible emotion regulation and to pose significant risks for physical and mental conditions.

One current challenge is to delineate the circumstances under which alexithymia is related to deficits or over-responding in emotion processing. Indeed, the pattern of deficits and over-responding does not seem to be restricted to broad emotional contexts but also occurs in neutral contexts. In addition, it can also vary according to specific emotional features (valence, arousal). Finally, in some circumstances, emotional over-responding in alexithymia can be beneficial, at least at the short term.

By using quantitative methods, we are currently examining the interaction of alexithymia and emotion processing in domains such as appraisal, executive function, memory, language, and aggressive behaviors. We recommend a facet-by-process approach to disentangle these opposite effects, and are also interested in specific emotion processing modulation in alexithymia.