Answer: Alexithymia (pronounced: Template: IPA) from the Greek words (literally "without words for emotions") is a term coined by Peter Sifneos in 1973 to describe a state of deficiency in understanding, processing, or describing emotions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Alexithymia is considered to be a personality trait that places individuals at risk for other medical and psychiatric disorders while reducing the likelihood that these individuals will respond to conventional treatments for the other conditions. Alexithymia is not classified as a mental disorder in the DSM IV. It is a personality trait that varies in severity from person to person. A person's alexithymia score can be measured with questionnaires such as the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire (BVAQ), or the Observer Alexithymia Scale (OAS).
Alexithymia is defined by:
(i) difficulty identifying feelings and distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal
(ii) difficulty describing feelings to other people
(iii) constricted imaginal processes, as evidenced by a paucity of fantasies
(iv) a stimulus-bound, externally oriented cognitive style.
EXTERNAL LINKS-
- American journal of psychotherapy
- Krystal (1988)