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Cited by 145Psychosomatic Disorders and Their TreatmentsSubstance Abuse Treatment and OutcomesAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes

The relationship of alexithymia to emotional dysregulation within an alcohol dependent treatment sample

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Stasiewicz, Paul R., Bradizza, Clara M., Gudleski, Gregory D., Coffey, Scott F., Schlauch, Robert C., Bailey, Sydney T., Bole, Christopher W., Gulliver, Suzy Bird·2012·Addictive Behaviors
DOI 10.1016/j.addbeh.2011.12.011PMC PMC3288528
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Abstract

Difficulties regulating emotions have implications for the development, maintenance, and recovery from alcohol problems. One construct thought to impede the regulation of emotion is alexithymia. Alexithymia is characterized by difficulties identifying, differentiating and expressing feelings, a limited imagination and fantasy life, and an externally-oriented thinking style (e.g., prefer talking about daily activities rather than feelings). Given that poor emotion regulation skills have been found to predict posttreatment levels of alcohol use, and that several defining characteristics of alexithymia bear similarity to deficits in emotion regulation skills, it is possible that alexithymia may predict poorer alcohol treatment outcomes. Thus, the present study first examined the relationship of alexithymia to several other emotion regulation measures and then investigated the impact of alexithymia on attrition and alcohol treatment outcomes in men and women (N=77) enrolled in a 12-week cognitive-behavioral intervention for alcohol dependence. At baseline, higher scores on alexithymia were associated poorer emotion regulation skills, fewer percent days abstinent, greater alcohol dependence severity, and several high-risk drinking situations. Alexithymia was unrelated to attrition and to level of alcohol consumption at posttreatment. Overall, the construct of alexithymia is shown to be related to several theoretically-related constructs (e.g., emotion regulation, mindfulness) but demonstrated a limited relationship to drinking outcomes in those seeking treatment for alcohol dependence.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.addbeh.2011.12.011

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  • Empathic impairments and emotion regulation difficulties appear to be predicted by alexithymia in those with alcohol addictions.

    “and empathic impairments (Maurage et al., 2011) and emotion regulation difficulties (Stasiewicz et al., 2012) appear to be predicted by alexithymia in those with alcohol addictions.”

    From Atypical interoception as a common risk factor for psychopathology: A review (2021) · cites this paper as Stasiewicz et al., 2012

    The Abstract and Discussion report that, in an alcohol-dependent treatment sample, higher alexithymia scores were associated with poorer emotion-regulation skills at baseline. They establish an association, not that alexithymia predicts later emotion-regulation difficulties. The separate empathic-impairments clause is attributed to Maurage et al., not this source. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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  • Alexithymia predicts faster relapse and lower levels of engagement with treatment in individuals with addiction disorders.

    “Similarly, alexithymia predicts faster relapse, and lower levels of engagement with treatment in individuals with addiction disorders (Cleland et al., 2005; Stasiewicz et al., 2012).”

    From Atypical interoception as a common risk factor for psychopathology: A review (2021) · cites this paper as Stasiewicz et al., 2012

    The Introduction reports earlier studies linking higher alexithymia to fewer treatment sessions and poorer therapeutic alliance; the Discussion reports earlier findings linking it to shorter abstinence or relapse. Those findings concern alcohol treatment, not addiction disorders generally. This paper’s own study found no significant relationship with treatment attrition and did not report long-term relapse outcomes. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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  • Emotion regulation is linked to negative mood regulation expectancies, distress tolerance, alexithymia, mindfulness, and psychiatric symptom severity.

    “Emotion regulation has demonstrated relationships with a number of psychological variables known to impact drinking and relapse to alcohol use during and following treatment. These include negative mood regulation expectancies (Kassel, Bornovalova & Mehta, 2006), distress tolerance (Jeffries, McLeish, Kramer et al., 2016), alexithymia (Stasiewicz, Bradizza, Gudlieski, et al., 2012), mindfulness (S”

    From Difficulties in emotion regulation in treatment-seeking alcoholics with and without co-occurring mood and anxiety disorders. (2018) · cites this paper as Stasiewicz, Bradizza, Gudlieski, et al., 2012

  • Alexithymia is associated with impaired abilities known to rely upon interoception, such as emotion regulation, emotion recognition, empathy, reward processing, and decision-making.

    “alexithymia is associated with impaired abilities known to rely upon interoception, such as emotion regulation (Stasiewicz et al., 2012), emotion recognition (Grynberg et al., 2012), empathy (e.g. Enzi et al., 2016; Gleichgerrcht et al., 2015; Moriguchi et al., 2007a; Silani et al., 2008), reward processing (Bibby and Ferguson, 2011; Goerlich et al., 2016; Morie et al., 2016) and decision-making,”

    From Atypical interoception as a common risk factor for psychopathology: A review (2021) · cites this paper as Stasiewicz et al., 2012

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2 of the 56 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Miller WR Tonigan JS Longabaugh R The Drinker Inventory of Consequences (DrInC): An Instrument for Assessing Adverse Consequences of Alcohol Abuse 1995 Rockville, MD National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Project MATCH Monograph Series, Vol. 4. DHHS Publication No. 95-3911.

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Authors
Stasiewicz, P. R., Bradizza, C. M., Gudleski, G. D., Coffey, S. F., Schlauch, R. C., Bailey, S. T., Bole, C. W., & Gulliver, S. B.
Affiliations
  • University at Buffalo, State University of New York (US)
  • University of Mississippi Medical Center (US)
  • VA Heart of Texas Health Care Network (US)
Corresponding author
Stasiewicz, Paul R.
ORCID
Venue
Addictive Behaviors
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2012-04
Volume
37
Issue
4
Pages
469-476
ISSN
0306-4603 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.addbeh.2011.12.011
PMC
PMC3288528
OpenAlex
W2076462635
Cited by
145
References
56
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 3
FWCI
3.94
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Addictive Behaviors (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R01AA015064, T32AA007583)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
Keywords
alexithymia, emotional dysregulation, emotion regulation, alcoholism, alcohol treatment outcomes, treatment discontinuation, cognitive-behavioral intervention, abstinence, mindfulness, gender differences
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Psychological, Affective Symptoms, Alcoholism, Ambulatory Care, Anxiety Disorders, Depressive Disorder, Emotions, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Risk Factors, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Treatment Outcome

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