Sympathetic activity in alexithymics with mother's low care

This study examines the relationships between alexithymic characteristics and their psychological factors (i.e., maternal closeness) and the sympathetic system in a sample of male college students. At the resting period, low frequency (LF)/ high frequency (HF) ratio, as an index of sympathetic activity, was significantly higher for students with high scores on global alexithymia or its alexithymia factor (difficulty describing feelings) than those with low scores, suggesting that alexithymic students tend to indicate high sympathetic activity during the resting period. During stress, the increase of LF/HF ratio was higher for students with low scores on alexithymia than those with high scores. Although no significant differences were noted, one may speculate that the differences in stress-related activation of LF/HF are due to higher levels of LH/HF in high alexithymics prior to stress. Our findings indicate that significant association between alexithymia and sympathetic activity during the resting period was controlled for the level of mother's care, suggesting that maternal attachment in infancy and/or childhood may play an important role in the development of alexithymic characteristics and/or sympathetic activity during the resting period.