Eating disorders are widely known to involve an extensive amount of associated physical, emotional and psychological complications. Some such complications are in relation to a sufferer's ability or inability to communicate effectively their thought, feelings and emotions. This may in turn make therapy at times very daunting and frustrating for both patient and therapist when one may struggle to make sense of or accurately describe their state of mind. Key area to be explored concerning this issue are listed below.
- What is alexithymia?
- How is alexithymia assessed?
- Implications for eating disorder patients
- Treatment
What is Alexithymia?
As highlighted by Shepphird (2010), the word alexithymia literally translates as "absence of words for emotion." Treasure et al. (2003) suggest that alexithymia is where the individual has great difficulty expressing/comprehending their emotions and includes the following symptoms: inability to identify/recognise emotions, differentiate between emotional or physical signals or communicate emotions. The patient exhibiting signs of this trait may be very confused about their feelings and also appear to lack consideration of their individual experiences. In addition to eating disorder sufferers, Alexithymia is believed to be common amongst those affected by depression and anxiety conditions.
How is Alexithymia Assessed?
A health professional may use the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 screening tool in order to assess a patient and determine possible impacts (also level of severity) regarding treatment and recovery. This tool measures key components including the following: difficulties of feeling identification, feeling communication as well as externally orientated thinking - the degree to which the patient's thinking focuses on external events instead of personal emotional experiences.
Alexithymia and Eating Disorder Patients
This symptom is much more common in eating disorder patients than in the general population. In fact, Comprehensive Psychiatry has highlighted published research indicating that around 40-68% of eating disorder patients may exhibit symptoms to some degree. If the symptoms are not recognised, the patient's recovery may be impacted. A key negative implication of alexithymia within therapy is it may make it very difficult for the therapist and patient to form a collaborative therapeutic relationship. At times the patient may come across as either distant or lacking in interest as a result of an inability to adequately express their emotions, feelings or current state of mind.
Alexithymia Treatment
As yet there has not been a great deal of research in this area. However, there are two approaches that are believed to show potential for treatment of alexithymia, which include problem solving therapy and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. For further information on Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, more commonly known as DBT, one may refer to a previous article on the subject.
Sources:
Kinoy, B. (2001) Eating Disorders: New Directions in Treatment and Recovery Columbia University press
Shepphird, S. (2010) 100 Questions & Answers About Anorexia Nervosa Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett
Treasure et al. (2003) Handbook of Eating Disorders Chichester: Wiley
Waller et al. (2007) CBT For Eating Disorders Cambridge University Press
Kate Le Page - Kate Henning-Le Page writes about eating disorders, body image and recovery issues. She specializes in anorexia recovery.
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