Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 12, 2025
Development of a Virtual Reality Assessment of Everyday Living Skills
Published on: April 23, 2014
Alexithymia in chronic schizophrenia and its mediating effect between cognitive deficits and negative symptoms
Lijuan Huo1, Diyang Qu2, Chenran Pei3
1Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China; Institute for Brain Research and Rehabilitation, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Guangzhou, China.
Background:
Although cognition is known to impact clinical symptoms of schizophrenia, few studies investigate the potential mediators of this relationship. This study aimed to examine the relationship between cognitive deficits and negative symptoms in schizophrenia, considering the mediating role of alexithymia as an important psychological variable. Moreover, the prevalence of alexithymia in patients with schizophrenia was investigated.
Methods:
A total of 689 patients with schizophrenia were recruited from two psychiatric hospitals. All patients completed the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). We used structural equation modeling to examine the hypothesized mediated model.
Results:
In total, 31.5 % of patients with schizophrenia were classified as alexithymia. The path analyses showed that two factors of alexithymia (i.e., the difficulty in identifying feelings and difficulty in describing feelings), played a mediating role in the pathway from cognitive deficits to negative symptoms (all p < .001).
Limitations:
Self-reported measurement for alexithymia may not be sufficiently reliable due to response bias.
Conclusion:
Our findings demonstrated a high occurrence of alexithymia in patients with schizophrenia. Moreover, the mediating role of alexithymia suggests that targeting emotion processing and cognition may be a feasible way to mitigate negative symptoms.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:30Negative and Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Negative Symptoms
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia manifest as deficits in normal emotional and behavioral functioning, profoundly impacting daily life. Individuals with schizophrenia often display a flat affect, characterized by a near-total absence of emotional expression,...
01:29Psychological and Sociocultural Causes of Schizophrenia
01:30Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia: Hallucinations and Delusions
Thought Disorders
Disorganized and unusual thought processes mark thought disorders in schizophrenia. One key feature is disorganized speech, where an individual's conversation includes...
01:27Depressive Disorders: Etiology
Biological Factors in Depression
Biological predispositions significantly influence the risk of developing depressive disorders. Genetic studies highlight the role of variations in the serotonin transporter...
01:27Language and Cognition
01:27Psychosis: Pathophysiology of Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders
Researchers have identified genetic factors that increase susceptibility to schizophrenia, underscoring the intricate interplay between genetics and environment in disease development. At the core of schizophrenia's pathophysiology is excessive dopaminergic neurotransmission within...