Alexithymia and depression in eating disorders
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Updated: Oct 17, 2026

A Computer-Based Platform for Aiding Clinicians in Eating Disorder Analysis and Diagnosis
Published on: May 10, 2022
M Corcos1, O Guilbaud, M Speranza
1Department of Adolescent and Young Adult Psychiatry, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, 42 Bd Jourdan, 75014, Paris, France. mcorcos@hotmail.com
Abstract:
We compared alexithymia and depression ratings for non-hospitalized women meeting DSM-IV criteria for anorexia nervosa (n=32) and bulimia nervosa (n=32) to ratings for healthy women (n=74). Alexithymia was evaluated by the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and depression by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD). TAS and HAD scores were significantly higher in anorexic compared to bulimic patients, although these two scales were significantly and positively correlated (r=0.53, P=0.001). After taking depression into account as a confounding variable, rates of alexithymia did not vary according to the type of eating disorder (anorexia or bulimia).
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