Alexithymia and verbal intelligence: a psychometric study

Abstract

Introduction: Alexithymia is a concept that describes the unability to put emotions into words ant that has been associated with somatization and psychosomatic disorders.

Methods: A sample of 124 outpatients attending the Psychosomatic Unit of a General Hospital was studied in order to test the hypothesis that alexithymic patients have a significantly lower verbal intelligence than nonalexithymics. Alexithymia was assessed by the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), and verbal, nonverbal and general intelligence were measured by the WAIS.

Results: TAS scores were not related to medical and psychiatric diagnoses, and alexithymic patients (n: 53) showed not only significantly lower scores in verbal intelligence than undifferentiated subjects (n: 37) and nonalexithymics (n: 34) but also sifnificantly lower scores in nonverbal and general intelligence.

Conclusion: The results do not confirm our hypothesis and are discussed in relation to theories that consider alexithymia as a consequence of cerebral asymmetry and interhemispheric dysfunctions.