Clinical and neural correlates of alexithymia in posttraumatic stress disorder.

Authors

Paul A Frewen
Ruth A Lanius
David J A DozoisFollow
Richard W J Neufeld
Clare Pain
James W Hopper
Maria Densmore
Todd K Stevens

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-1-2008

Journal

Journal of Abnormal Psychology

Volume

117

Issue

1

First Page

171

Last Page

181

URL with Digital Object Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.117.1.171

Abstract

Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often exhibit deficits in emotional experience and expression, which suggests that certain individuals with PTSD may be alexithymic. In this study, in a sample of 105 individuals with PTSD, clinical correlates of alexithymia included reexperiencing, hyperarousal, numbing, dissociative symptoms, and retrospectively reported experiences of childhood emotional neglect. In a subsample of 26 individuals with PTSD related to a motor vehicle accident, functional neural responses to trauma-script imagery were associated with severity of alexithymia, including increased right posterior-insula and ventral posterior-cingulate activation and decreased bilateral ventral anterior-cingulate, ventromedial prefrontal, anterior-insula, and right inferior frontal cortex activation. Clinical and theoretical implications and future research directions are discussed.