Multidimensionality and state dependency of alexithymia in recently sober alcoholics

In this study, we a) examined the appropriateness of using a single global score to represent alexithymia and b) constructed a model to examine the relationship between alexithymia and depression in recently sober alcoholics applying for inpatient care. To measure alexithymia, we used the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS); to measure depression, we used the revised Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Factor analyses identified three alexithymia factors (Feelings, Daydreaming, and External Thinking) and two depression factors (Somatic-Performance and Cognitive-Affective). The three TAS factors were not positively related to each other; the two BDI factors were. We used LISREL software to examine the relationships between the TAS factors and the BDI factors. The only two significant unidirectional coefficients were between the TAS-Feelings factor and the two BDI factors. Our results suggest that in recently sober alcoholics, alexithymia, as measured by the TAS, consists of three independent, unrelated dimensions. Moreover, only the dimension associated with an inability to identify feelings and to distinguish them from bodily sensations is related to depressive symptoms. To determine whether this alexithymia feelings dimension actually is dependent on situational depression and/or anxiety will require confirmation in additional samples, such as primary alexithymics and patients with major depressive disorders.