Shared neuroendocrine patterns of post-traumatic stress disorder and alexithymia

High norepinephrine/cortisol ratios have been shown to be useful indicators of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Alexithymia can result from overwhelming stress; thus, we hypothesized that sympathetic-adrenal medullary/hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal ratios would be positively associated with alexithymia severity. In the present study, we correlated 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylethylene glycol (MHPG)/adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and MHPG/cortisol ratios with self-report Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) scores in a group (n = 17) of nondepressed, formerly alcohol-dependent men. The correlations between the respective ratios and TAS scores were 0.515 (p = 0.034) and 0.561 (p = 0.019). We suggest that increasing degrees of alexithymia are accompanied by an increasing separation of these two endocrine systems and then speculate that this dissociation has an anatomical basis in the lateralization of emotions.