• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.54-60
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• 2016

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.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.42-50
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• 1999

Alexithymia refers to a specific disturbance in psychic functioning characterized by difficulties in the capacity to verbalize affect and to elabolate fantasies. Although it was initially described in the context of psychosomatic illness, alexithymic charateristics may be observed in patients with a wide range of medical and psychiatric disorders. This study was designed to investigate alexithymic characteristics in the patients with alcoholism using Scored Archetypal 9 Test(SAT9) and Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 Korea version(TAS-20K). Twenty patients with alcoholism and twenty-four normal controls completed these tests. The results were as follows. 1) Patient group with alcoholism were significantly more alexithymic than normal control group in both SAT9 and TAS-20K. 2) No significant difference in the alexithymic measures was found between genders of both group. 3) No significant correlation was found between alexithymic measures and age or education level in both group. 4) Measures between SAT9 and TAS-20K showed significant correlation in the patient group.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.115-132
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• 2023

Previous studies on emotion have repeatedly suggested that alexithymia is an important predictor of depression. Therefore, this study examined whether the relationship between these two variables can be moderated by personality factors, focusing on the Big five personality traits. An online survey of 312 college students, including alexithymia, depression, and Big five personality traits (Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness to Experience) was conducted. As the results, as expected, alexithymia predicted depression, which was in line with the existing research flow. In addition, moderation analysis revealed that agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness to experience moderated the relationship between alexithymia and depression, while extraversion and conscientiousness did not. This study has an important implication in that it discriminated which specific personality traits function as moderators in the process of increasing depression due to alexithymia.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.47-55
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• 2004

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate alexithymia, depressive symptoms, and stress response of patients with alcohol dependence. The results were taken as a basic data of ameliorating the quality of life. Methods: 94 patients with alcohol dependence completed stress response inventory, Korea depression scale, and toronto alexithymia scale successfully. Results: 55% of variance of alexithymia of patients with alcohol dependence were explained by the stress response and depressive symptoms and score of ADS, and the stress response had the most explanatory power. Conclusions: The alexithymia of patients with alcohol dependence may be influenced by depressive symptoms, education, frequency of drinking, and stress response. The specialists were identifying symptoms of depression and optimizing the management, therefore increasing the compliance and quality of life of patients with alcohol dependence.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.449-460
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• 2017

This study examined the moderated mediation effect, consisting of the moderation effect of alexithymia and the mediation effect of hostility in the relationship between emotional labor and depression of casino dealers. A total of 160 casino dealers (56 males, 94 females) working in a foreigner exclusive casino in Seoul responded to a survey on emotional labor, alexithymia, hostility and depression. SPSS 22.0 Macro was used to verify the moderated mediation effect. First, the level of depression amplified as the emotional labor of casino dealers increased. Hostility had a significant partial-mediation effect on the relationship between emotional labor and depression. Second, the moderation effect of alexithymia was significant, indicating that the interaction effect of emotional labor and alexithymia as well as hostility and alexithymia predicted depression. Third, the moderated mediation effect of alexithymia was significant. Alexithymia moderated the influence of emotional labor on depression, which was mediated through hostility. Implications on how to assist casino dealers on emotional labor were discussed.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.53-61
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• 2006

Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate difference of the alexithymia between panic patients and normal controls by examination of the relationships between different components of the alexithymia construct and level of anxiety and depression in panic patients and normal controls. Methods The subjects were 167 patients who met DSM-IV criteria for panic disorder and 110 normal controls. They drew up symptom checklists and self-rating scales, and were measured by Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule-Panic attack & Agoraphobia(ADIS-P & A), Korean version of Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20K), Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-State & Trait (STAI-S & T), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Revised Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI-R). For statistical analysis, we performed t-test to compare the sociodemographic characteristics and the scores of self reported scales between panic patients and normal controls. Pearson correlation was performed between TAS-20K and it's subfactors, STAI-S & T, ASI-R and BDI in panic patients and normal controls. And stepwise multiple regression analysis was preformed to explain results of correlation analysis for alexithymia. Results: The panic patients reported more significant alexithymic (p<0.001), more difficulty identifying feeling (p<0.001) and describing feeling (p=0.001) than normal controls. Futhermore, panic patients were more significant anxious, sensitive to anxious feeling and depressive than normal controls. Moreover, the alexithymia of panic patients was explained by trait-anxiety $({\Delta}R^2=0.255)$ and anxiety sensitivity $({\Delta}R^2=0.062)$, that of normal controls was predicted by depression $({\Delta}R^2=0.144)$ and anxiety sensitivity $({\Delta}R^2=0.033)$ Conclusion: The panic patients reported more anxious and sensitive to anxious feeling, and these symptoms predict alexithymia in panic patients. However, the alexithymia of normal controls was explained by depression more than anxiety sensitivity, and such a result isn't consistent with previous studies and this may be mainly due to difference of the homogeneity in object of the studies.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.58-64
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• 2000

Objectives : This study aimed to examine a correlation between the somatic complaints, emotion, vocabulary and alexithymia as a component of personality in normal persons. Methods : 204 subjects were collected by age-based systematic sampling from the 662 persons without confirmed medical illness. We used the Korean version of 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale(TAS-20K) to measure alexithymia. The somatic complaints were checked by the list of somatic symptoms on the diagnostic criteria of somatization disorder and major depressive episode in DSM-IV. The vocabulary was evaluated by the total number of associating-words from the spontaneous association of word and the secondary association to given words. The anxiety and depression were evaluated using 5-point self-report scale. Results : 1) The degree of alexithymia was significantly correlated with the somatic complaints, anxiety, depression. 2) The somatic complaints were significantly correlated with the anxiety and depression. 3) The number of associating-words showed negative correlation with the age. 4) The degree of alexithymia was not correlated with the number of associating-words. Conclusion : The more degree of alexithymia increased, the more somatic complaints appeared. There was a significant correlation between the degree of alexithymia, anxiety and depression. But the degree of alexithymia was not correlated with the amount of vocabulary.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.101-118
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• 2019

Alexithymia refers to a psychological deficit of identifying and describing one's feelings. It has benn reported that the level of alexithymia of East-Asians is generally higher than that of Western Europeans. Recently one research conducted in U.S. suggested that the interdependent self-construal from East-Asians' collectivism culture might be a cause of this cross-cultural difference. In the current study, we examined the relationship between the level of independent and interdependent self-construal of Korean college students and their level of alexithymia, as well as their ambivalence over emotional expressiveness and emotion suppression. The correlation analysis shows that the Korean students' alexithymia level does not correlate with their level of interdependent self-construal, but negatively correlates with their level of independent self-construal. Moreover, it is also correlated with the level of ambivalence over emotional expressiveness(AEE) and emotion suppression(ES). Thus, we setup a double-mediation model between the deficiency of independent self-construal and alexithymia via AEE and ES, and estimate mediation effects using Hayes and Preacher(2014)s' Process analysis. The results show that the deficiency of independent self-construal has a direct effect as well as indirect effects of AEE and ES on the alexithymia level. Further analysis on the indirect effects reveals that the mediation effect of AEE and the double mediation effect of ES via AEE are significant, but the mediation effect of ES is not significant. Current results imply that the interdependent self-construal from the traditional collectivistic culture may not cause Korean college students' problems on the emotional expression, but the relatively lower independent self-construal may cause them. The deficiency of independent self-constural may raise up the level of self-defensive ambivalence over emotional expressiveness and suppress emotional expression by themselves, which can result in alexithymia.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.10 no.8
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• pp.249-256
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• 2012

This study explored the relation of health habit, stress and alexithymia in high school students. The subjects were 1,201 high school students. Collected data was analyzed by using the SPSS 17.0 program for descriptive statistics, ${\chi}^2$ -test, unpaired t-test. In results, exercise were significantly different according to health habit between the gastrointestinal symptoms and had no gastrointestinal symptoms. For the relation among the health habit, stress and alexithymia between the gastrointestinal symptoms and had no gastrointestinal symptoms were significantly different on stress and alexithymia. Therefore, the high schools should evaluate the students'health habit and stress due to the gastrointestinal symptoms. Schools should develop the health promotion program and operate it. And also train the students about communication method to help them recognizing their own feeling and express it, and also give them opportunity.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.32-40
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• 2005

Objectives : This study looked at the symptoms of alexithymia in schizophrenia and their association with clinical variables and schizophrenic symptomatology. Methods Consecutive fifty eight inpatients with DSM-IV diagnoses of schizophrenia completed 26item version of Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), Symptom Checklist-90-Revised(SCL-90-R), and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale(PANSS). Results : Authors did not find any correlation between scores of PANSS and TAS. However, all the subscale scores of SCL-90-R were significantly correlated with total score of TAS. Also, 'difficulty identifying and deistinguishing between feelings and bodily sensations' and 'difficulty describing feelings' significantly correlated with SCL-90-R subscale scores. 'Reduced daydreaming' had mixed findings and 'externally oriented thinking' did not correlate. Multiple regression model included Global Severity Index of SCL-90-R accounting 28.2% of variance for TAS scores. Conclusion : These findings together with discrepancy in results between objective and subjective tests suggest that alexithymia in schizophrenia may have two constructs, 'difficulty to describe and communicate feelings(state)' and 'externally oriented thinking(trait)' Authors suggest further study needs to confirm construct validity of TAS in this population.