Alexithymia and cortisol awakening response in people with eating disorders
Introduction Alexithymia, that is the inability to recognize and describe one’s own emotions, is a transdiagnostic feature across eating disorders (EDs) and it has been associated to a prolonged stress exposure. Objectives Therefore, we evaluated whether alexithymia affects the hypothalamus-pitu...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2021-04-01
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| Series: | European Psychiatry |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0924933821003266/type/journal_article |
| Summary: | Introduction
Alexithymia, that is the inability to recognize and describe one’s own emotions, is a transdiagnostic feature across eating disorders (EDs) and it has been associated to a prolonged stress exposure.
Objectives
Therefore, we evaluated whether alexithymia affects the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN).
Methods
Twenty-six women with AN and 26 with BN participated in the study. Alexithymia was evaluated by the Toronto Alexithymia Scale–20 and eating-related psychopathology was measured by the Eating Disorder Inventory-2. The activity of the HPA axis was assessed by the salivary cortisol awakening response (CAR). Group differences in saliva CAR were tested by repeated measures 3-way ANOVA with diagnosis and alexithymia as between-subject factors.
Results
The prevalence of alexithymia did not differ significantly between the two diagnostic groups (c2=1.24, p=0.26). Alexithymia was associated with more severe eating-related psychopathology in AN women but not in BN women. A significant reduction in the magnitude of CAR occurred in alexithymic patients with BN compared to non-alexithymic patients with BN (t = 3.39, p = 0.008), but not in alexithymic women with AN (t = 0.67, p = 0.54).
Conclusions
These results confirm the presence of a more severe eating-related psychopathology in alexithymic individuals with AN and show, for the first time, an association between alexithymia and a dampened basal activity of the HPA axis in BN.
Disclosure
No significant relationships.
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| ISSN: | 0924-9338 1778-3585 |