Relations between emotional awareness and alexithymia measures: Behavioral and neurobiological evidence

Vladimir Lichev

AutorIn

Vladimir Lichev

Titel

Relations between emotional awareness and alexithymia measures: Behavioral and neurobiological evidence

Zitierfähige Url:

https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa-179197

Datum der Einreichung

15.12.2014

Datum der Verteidigung

01.09.2015

Abstract (EN)

The present work is the first to examine the behavioral and the neurobiological correlates of trait emotional awareness and alexithymia which are related personality constructs. Both traits are essential for understanding the abilities and deficits of psychosomatic patients to regulate emotions. However, to date little is known about their behavioral and neurobiological correlates. Therefore, the present dissertation addresses the relation between both constructs. The introduction section give an extensive overview of the available behavioral and neurobiological research. Based on the revealed literature, open research questions are identified and addressed in one psychometric and one imaging study. In study 1 the psychometric properties and relations between two different methods of measuring alexithymia and one measure of emotional awareness were evaluated. The 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia (TSIA), and the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS), which is a performance-based measure of emotional awareness, were administered to 84 university students. Study 2 addressed automatic brain reactivity to emotional stimuli as a function of trait emotional awareness. During scanning, happy, angry, fearful, and neutral facial expressions were subliminally presented to 46 healthy subjects, who had to rate the fit between artificial and emotional words. The results of the studies are summarized and integrated in the existing literature. Finally, open research questions are discussed, implications for future research are outlined.

Freie Schlagwörter (DE)

Alexithymie

Freie Schlagwörter (EN)

Alexithymia

Klassifikation (DDC)

610

GutachterIn