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Mixed emotions: the contribution of alexithymia to the emotional symptoms of autism
- Source :
- Bird, G & Cook, R 2013, ' Mixed emotions : The contribution of alexithymia to the emotional symptoms of autism ', Translational psychiatry, vol. 3, e285 . https://doi.org/10.1038/tp.2013.61, Translational Psychiatry
- Publication Year :
- 2013
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2013.
-
Abstract
- It is widely accepted that autism is associated with disordered emotion processing, and in particular, with deficits of emotional reciprocity such as impaired emotion recognition and reduced empathy. However, a close examination of the literature reveals wide heterogeneity within the autistic population with respect to emotional competence. Here we argue that, where observed, emotional impairments are due to alexithymia - a condition that frequently co-occurs with autism - rather than a feature of autism per se. Alexithymia is a condition characterized by a reduced ability to identify and describe one’s own emotion, but which results in reduced empathy and an impaired ability to recognize the emotions of others. We briefly review studies of emotion processing in alexithymia, and in autism, before describing a recent series of studies directly testing this ‘alexithymia hypothesis’. If found to be correct, the alexithymia hypothesis has wide-reaching implications for the study of autism, and how we might best support sub-groups of autistic individuals with, and without, accompanying alexithymia. Finally, we note the presence of elevated rates of alexithymia, and inconsistent reports of emotional impairments, in eating disorders, schizophrenia, substance abuse, Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and anxiety disorders. We speculate that examining the contribution of alexithymia to the emotional symptoms of these disorders may bear fruit\ud in the same way that it is starting to do in autism.
- Subjects :
- Alexithymia
Expressions
Autism
media_common.quotation_subject
Emotions
Population
BF
autism
Empathy
Review
Models, Psychological
Developmental psychology
Emotional competence
Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
medicine
Humans
Affective Symptoms
Autistic Disorder
education
Biological Psychiatry
Emotional Intelligence
expressions
media_common
education.field_of_study
Emotional intelligence
medicine.disease
High-functioning autism
Psychiatry and Mental health
Asperger syndrome
alexithymia
heterogeneity
Heterogeneity
Psychology
Clinical psychology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 21583188
- Volume :
- 3
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Translational Psychiatry
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....a220e914f21f7e7356c3c3828e8ded79