Alexithymia and childhood abuse among patients attending primary and psychiatric care: results of the RADEP Study.

BACKGROUND Some authors have suggested that the background of alexithymia is related to affective development during early childhood. OBJECTIVE Authors studied the associations between alexithymia and childhood emotional neglect and sexual and physical abuse, also taking into account the significance of concomitant psychopathology. METHOD Associations between childhood difficulties and adulthood alexithymia were studied with samples of primary-care (N=1,033) and mental-health center (N=243) outpatients assessed by The Toronto Alexithymia Scale and questionnaires for depressive, manic, and psychotic symptoms, and childhood difficulties. RESULTS No association between alexithymia and childhood abuse was found in mental-health center patients. Among primary-care patients, alexithymia total score and difficulty in identifying feelings and difficulty in describing feelings were associated with childhood emotional, sexual, and physical abuse. CONCLUSION After controlling for psychopathology, there still remained an association with difficulty in identifying feelings and most abuse and neglect variables. These findings serve to strengthen the theory of alexithymia as a developmental process starting in childhood.