• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.108-115
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• 2006

Objectives : Objectives of this study was to explore the relationships between anger, alexithymia and premenstrual syndrome(PMS). Methods The subjects included 125 women with PMS and 58 women with non-PMS assessed by Daily record of Severity of Problems(DRSP) and Shortened Premestrual Assessment Form(SPAE). Anger level was assessed by anger expression scale. The level of alexithymia was assessed by Toronto alexithymia scale. We compared the scores of anger, alexithymia between PMS group and no-PMS group. Results : The mean scores of anger in(p=0.04), anger total(p=0.01) were significantly higher in women with PMS compared to control subjects. and the mean scores of alexithymia(p=0.04) were also significantly higher in women with PMS compared to control subjects. Conclusions : This study showed that the level of anger and alexithymia could be higher in women with PMS compared to control subjects, and that symptoms of PMS could be associated with anger and alexithymia. therefore, It would be better to consider the level of anger and alexithymia in treating and evaluating women with PMS.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.100-106
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• 2007

Objectives : The objective of the present study was to investigate alexithymia in major depressive disorder(MDD) and subclinical depression(SCD). Methods : Three hundred eighty-six community-dwelling adults(238 females and 148 males, age 19-79; mean age $43.0{\pm}13.9$) were recruited. Structured clinical Interview for DSM-IV(SCID) was conducted for the diagnosis of MDD or other Axis I psychiatric disorders. The Center for Epidemiological Studies for Depression Scale(CES-D) and the Totonto Alexithymia Scale(TAS) were administered to assess depressive symptom and alexithymia, respectively. Among subjects without MDD, those who had minor depressive disorder on the SCID or high scores(i.e. over 16) on the CES-D were defined as subjects with SCD. TAS total score and factor I, II, III scores of TAS in MDD, SCD, and non-depressive controls were compared. Results : Among 386 subjects, 38 subjects(9.8%) were diagnosed as MDD by DSM-IV criteria, while 57 subjects(14.8%) were classified into SCD group. There were significant differences between 3 groups(MDD, SCD and non-depressive controls) in total score($F_{2,383}=14.0$, p<0.01), factor I(difficulty in identifying feeling)($F_{2,383}=23.4$, p<0.01) and factor II(difficulty in describing feeling)($F_{2,383}=7.8$, p<0.01), but not factor III(external oriented thinking)($F_{2,383}=1.8$, p=0.16) of TAS. In post-hoc analysis, both MDD subjects and SCD subjects had higher scores in TAS total, factor I and factor II, compared to non-depressive controls(all p<0.01). In contrast, there were no significant differences between MDD subjects and SCD subjects in any TAS factor. Conclusion : In this study, both MDD subjects and SCD subjects were more alexithymic than non-depressive control subjects. These findings suggest that SCD, as well as MDD, is also related to alexithymia.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.171-197
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• 2023

The traditional Korean society has been classified as an Eastern collectivist culture, but in the flow of globalization and digitalization along with the post-Cold War era of the 1970s, Western individualistic culture and values quickly permeated the Korean younger generation. Since rapid changes occurred within a short period of time, there may be differences in cultural self-construal between generations living in the same era. Due to this, psychological problems related to emotional expression and suppression may appear differently depending on generations. Therefore, in the current study, 1,000 Korean adult men and women from their 20s to 60s were investigated for their level of independent and interdependent self-construal, alexithymia, ambivalence over emotional expression(AEE) and emotional suppression(ES). Then the relationship between the variables(self-construal and alexithymia,) and the mediating process of AEE and ES were examined. The generation of participants were divided into the industrialization cohort (birth year < 1970) and the digitalization cohort (birth year starting from 1970). Using the PROCESS macro(Hayes, 2022), we tested a serial mediation model of AEE and ES between the relative independent self-construal(RIS) and alexithymia. The results indicate that the level of alexithymia increases by the serial increase of AEE and ES when RIS decreases. Next, we examined a moderation effect of generatione on the mediation process of AEE and ES, and found that generation moderates the relationship between ES and alexithymia. That is, the effect of ES on alexithymia is significant for the digitalization cohort, while it is not significant for the industrialization cohort. The current results imply that emotion regulation strategies of Koreans have been differently developed according to prevailing cultural values in each generation, and that the negative influence of emotion suppression could be different according to the cultural background of each generation.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.69-76
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• 2003

Objectives: Many researches have been done to compare psychopathology of functional gastrointestinal disorder and inflammatory bowel disease which involves structural change. Recently, many studies focused on the topic of alexithymia. The results from these studies were questionable for lack of valid measures of alexithymia and valid diagnostic criteria of functional gastrointestinal disorders. Therefore, we tried to overcome these two problems and to assess alexithymia, personality characteristics, and other psychopathology. Methods: The subjects consisted of ulcerative colitis group(N=28) who were diagnosed by colonoscopy and biopsy, irritable bowel syndrome group(N=27) who were diagnosed by Rome II criteria and normal control group(N=22). All patients were diagnosed at outpatient department of Kyungpook National University Hospital. All these groups completed three psychological tests, including MMPI, Rorschach test, and well validated TAS-20K(The Korean Version of the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale). Results: Twenty-five percent of the ulcerative colitis group and 22% of the irritable bowel syndrome group scored in the alexithymia range, compared with 0% of the normal group. In Rorschach test, irritable bowel syndrome group showed high levels of weighted Sum C and EA. Most of clinical scales of MMPI were higher in two gastrointestinal groups than the normal control group. And two gastrointestinal groups showed low ego strength level, but there was no statistical significant difference between them. Conclusion: Two gastrointestinal groups showed high rate of alexithymia, other psychopathological profiles, and low ego strength but there was no significant difference between two groups.

• Proceedings of the KHMA Conference
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• 2013.05a
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• pp.330-330
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• 2013

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.30-37
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• 2004

The objective of this study was to make a comparison between chronic superficial gastritis and gastric ulcer patients regarding stress responses, anger expression and alexithymia. The subjects included 100 patients with chronic superficial gastritis and 40 patients with gastric ulcer confirmed by gastroscopy. Stress responses were measured by the Stress Response Inventory(SRI) and anxiety, depression, somatization and hostility subscales of the Symptom Checklist-90-revised(SCL-90-R). Anger expression and anger suppression were assessed by the Anger Expression Scale. The level of alexithymia was assessed by the Toronto Alexithymia Scale(TAS). Multiple regression analysis showed that the patients with chronic gastritis scored significantly higher on tension subscale and somatization subscale of the SRI, and anxiety subscale of the SCL-90-R than those with gastric ulcer. However, no significant differences were found in the score of anger expression and anger suppression subscales and total score of TAS between the two groups. In chronic gastritis patients, women scored significantly higher on somatization subscale of the SRI than men, whereas in gastric ulcer patients, men scored significantly higher on somatization subscale of the SRI than women. These results suggest that chronic gastritis patients are more likely to have higher level of stress responses and higher susceptibility to stress than gastric ulcer patients. In addition, in chronic gastritis patients, women are more likely to somatize than men, but in gastric ulcer patients, men are more likely to somatize than women. However, there were no differences between the two groups in anger expression, anger suppression and alexithymia.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.18-23
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• 2002

Alexithymia represents deficits in the cognitive processing and regulation of emotions. It is observed in many cases of psychosomatic disease, anorexia nervosa, panic disorder, depression etc. Many studies have shown that alexithymia is associated with maladaptive styles of emotion regulation, low emotional intelligence, interhemispheric transfer deficit, and reduced rapid eye movement density. Psychotherapies that enhance emotional awareness may be effective in alleviating the difficulties of alexithymic individuals. Aexithymia is useful for constructing the role of personality and emotions in the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders. It may serve as a bridge between neurobiology and psychology. We review recent alexithymia theory and research and their implications for treatment of psychosomatic disorders.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.33-45
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• 2013

Thise study is designed to demonstrate the influence of socio-demographic variables(age, education, career history and marital Status), alexithymia, burnout, and adult attachment on child disciplinary styles; childcare teachers in charge of young children were studied. The purpose of the study is to provide information about the desirable disciplinary styles of a childcare teacher in order to strengthen the quality of childcare education. The data collected in this study showed the following results: First, the age, education, career history and marital status of a teacher produced good results statistically irrelevant to the their child disciplinary style. Second, a high level of negative correlation was found among alexithymia, burnout, adult attachment and the child disciplinary style of a childcare teacher. In other words, if a teacher shows a high level of alexithymia, burnout, and adult attachment, it is likely that the teacher's child disciplinary style is coercive and neglect, and the teacher tends to give an illogical explanation. Third, in contrast to the other variables, burnout and adult attachment have a greater effect on child disciplinary style than alexithymia.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.149-154
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• 2015

Objective : The aim of the study was to investigate the difference in alexithymia between anxiety disorder and depressive disorder. The second was to evaluate the effect of alexithymia on quality of life in patients with anxiety disorder and depressive disorder. Methods : A total of 175 patients with diagnoses of anxiety disorder or depressive disorder were recruited. Demographic, psychosocial, and clinical data were analyzed, as well as results on the 20-item Toronto alexithymia Scale (TAS-20K), the Symptom Checklist-90-Re-vised (SCL-90-R), a quality of life scale, the Beck Depression scale, and Beck Anxiety Inventory. Results : As compared with the patients with anxiety disorder, patients with depressive disorder showed significantly higher total score on the TAS-20K and for factor 1 (difficulties identifying feelings) and factor 2 (difficulties describing feeling) scales of the TAS-20K and showed significantly lower scores of psychosocial well-being on the quality of life scale. Total scores on the TAS-20K correlated significantly with scores for some subscale on the quality of life scale. Conclusion : This study suggest that patients with depressive disorder had more alexithymic symptoms and worse quality of life compared with those with anxiety disorder. Also, alexithymic symptoms are found to be associated with quality of life. Therefore, clinicians should try to focus on relieving symptoms to help patients restore their psychological well-being and improve their quality of life.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.77-88
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• 2003

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare reliability and validity of three Korean versions of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia scale and to confirm the most reliable and validated Korean translation of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale for both clinical and research purpose in Korea. The first one was a Korean version of the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale developed by Lee YH et al in 1996 which was designated as TAS-20K(1996) in this study. This scale had a problem with one item due to the cultural difference regarding the word 'analyzing' between western culture and Korean culture. The second one was the revised version of TAS-20K(1996) on that point by Lee YH et al in 1996 without validation which was designated as TAS-20K(2003) in this study. The third one was a 23-item Korean version developed by Sin HG and Won HT in 1997, which was somewhat different from the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale(TAS-20) in the number of total item, the content of some items and the scoring method. This scale was designated as S-TAS here. Methods: 408 medical students were tested with one scale composed of all the different items randomly arranged from the three versions. We evaluated goodness-of-fit and Cronbach $\alpha$ coefficients of three scales for reliability. We used confirmatory factor analysis to compare validity. Results: TAS-20K(2003) showed that it had better internal consistency than TAS-20K(1996), which implied that the cultural difference should be considered in the Korean translation. Both TAS-20K(2003) and S-TAS replicated three-factor structures and had adequacy of fit, good internal consistency and acceptable validity. However, S-TAS had one item with poor item-factor correlation and didn't show high correlation between item 2 and factor 1 as before in 1997. Conclusion: Although S-TAS had added 3 items and changed the content of two items, it didn't show better reliability and validity than TAS-20K(2003). Therefore it is proposed to use TAS-20K (2003) as the Korean version of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale(TAS-20K) for international communication of results of Alexithymia research. It has good internal consistency and validity and maintains original items, the same construct and scoring method as the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale.