The Therapeutic Implications of Alexithymia in Patients with Eating Disorders

Kim, Seung Jun

Abstract

Alexithymia is characterized by difficulties identifying and describing feelings, impoverished fantasy life, and concrete and poorly introspective thinking. Alexithymic patients have been reported to show a stable deficit with regard to processing and regulating emotions. Eating disorders are characterized by a persistent disturbance of eating or eating-related behavior that significantly impairs physical health or psychosocial functioning. Like alexithymic patients, patients with eating disorders show the impaired capacity to process and regulate emotions. There is a robust body of literature showing patients with eating disorders are more alexithymic than healthy controls. Specifically, patients with eating disorders experience difficulties identifying and describing emotions. Childhood maltreatment can increase the risk for depression and alexithymia, which can in turn lead to disordered eating symptoms. Also, higher levels of alexithymia are correlated with a less favorable clinical outcome in patients with eating disorder. Therefore, treatments to help processing and regulating emotions of eating disorder patients with pronounced alexithymic traits may seem to lead to a higher possibility of recovery.