Furthering the multi-route model of alexithymia: a constructionist perspective
<p>Alexithymia – difficulties identifying and describing feelings with an externally-oriented thinking style – is elevated in a range of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions, and may explain co-occurring affective psychopathology. Past research has primarily focused on the role of int...
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2024
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| _version_ | 1811139350913613824 |
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| author | Lee, KK-S |
| author2 | Bird, G |
| author_facet | Bird, G Lee, KK-S |
| author_sort | Lee, KK-S |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>Alexithymia – difficulties identifying and describing feelings with an externally-oriented thinking style – is elevated in a range of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions, and may explain co-occurring affective psychopathology. Past research has primarily focused on the role of interoceptive deficits in the development of alexithymia, yet the sole reliance on this interoceptive account may be insufficient to explain the aetiology of alexithymia in a wide array of alexithymic individuals.</p>
<p><strong>Chapter 1</strong> first describes the alexithymia construct and its high co-occurrence with a wide range of mental health conditions. This is followed by an overview of the past literature on the link between interoceptive deficits and alexithymia, and its limitations in explaining the development of alexithymia in different clinical groups. The multi-route model of alexithymia is discussed, which posits that there are multiple psychological pathways underlying alexithymia. In particular, the language hypothesis of alexithymia proposes that language impairments predispose language impaired groups to alexithymia. To enrich the theoretical discussion, the theory of constructed emotion is considered, introducing novel areas for research on the representation and acquisition of emotion concepts in alexithymic individuals.</p>
<p><strong>Chapter 2</strong> presents an integrated systematic review and meta-analysis on the relationships between alexithymia and (i) multi-domain language impairments, and (ii) emotional granularity. A modest association was found between alexithymia and language impairments, and elevated alexithymic traits were evident in language impaired groups relative to those with typical language in a small subset of studies. Alexithymia was associated with less fine-grained perception of emotional experience.</p>
<p><strong>Chapter 3</strong> investigates the prospective relationship between childhood language impairments and alexithymic traits in adolescence using data from the SCALES cohort. Supporting the language hypothesis, boys with low language function at ages 4-5 and those who later met the diagnostic criteria of language disorders at ages 5-6 reported more difficulties differentiating emotions and paying less attention to others’ emotions at ages 12-13 than peers with typical language. Early structural language difficulties were consistently associated with elevated alexithymic traits in adolescence.</p>
<p><strong>Chapter 4</strong> adopts a strength-based approach, using professional writers as a model to study the role of language talents in emotional self-awareness. Results showed that writers had very low levels of alexithymic traits when compared to non-writers, and this group difference was related to higher self-reported interoceptive accuracy in writers compared to non-writers. Both writers and non-writers showed similar structural organisation of emotion concepts, which did not significantly predict their alexithymic traits.</p>
<p><strong>Chapter 5</strong> tests the link between alexithymia and emotion concept acquisition. Experiments 1 and 2 found no robust associations between alexithymia and emotion concept learning processes, but an indirect pathway between alexithymia and more stochastic choices through co-occurring anxiety symptoms. Experiment 3 found this same indirect pathway through anxiety when learning abstract non-emotion concepts, suggesting a general choice characteristic.</p>
<p><strong>Chapter 6</strong> investigates the relationships between autistic and alexithymic traits and information gathering. In a sample of typically-developing youths (aged 6-25 years), autistic traits were consistently associated with more information gathering regardless of information type and cost of information gathering. Computational modelling suggested that this was related to later emergence of subjective cost of information gathering, promoting later guesses in those with higher autistic traits. Alexithymia was uniquely associated with inconsistent reporting of emotional responses to rewards and losses, and reduced gathering of emotional information when analysing parent-report measures, suggesting a novel treatment target.</p>
<p>Finally, <strong>Chapter 7</strong> summarises the key findings and discusses their theoretical and methodological implications with respect to a multi-route model of alexithymia. This is followed by a general discussion of the utility of the theory of constructed emotion. Future directions and clinical implications are also discussed. Together, this collection of work seeks to refine the theoretical framework of the multi-route model of alexithymia and highlights the importance of mechanism-focused research, with the ultimate goal of informing treatments for the wide array of alexithymic individuals.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:04:42Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:1fbf0cab-a679-4124-a96f-7708ce9a37ed |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:04:42Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:1fbf0cab-a679-4124-a96f-7708ce9a37ed2024-05-29T09:24:53ZFurthering the multi-route model of alexithymia: a constructionist perspectiveThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:1fbf0cab-a679-4124-a96f-7708ce9a37edEnglishHyrax Deposit2024Lee, KK-SBird, GParkinson, B<p>Alexithymia – difficulties identifying and describing feelings with an externally-oriented thinking style – is elevated in a range of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions, and may explain co-occurring affective psychopathology. Past research has primarily focused on the role of interoceptive deficits in the development of alexithymia, yet the sole reliance on this interoceptive account may be insufficient to explain the aetiology of alexithymia in a wide array of alexithymic individuals.</p> <p><strong>Chapter 1</strong> first describes the alexithymia construct and its high co-occurrence with a wide range of mental health conditions. This is followed by an overview of the past literature on the link between interoceptive deficits and alexithymia, and its limitations in explaining the development of alexithymia in different clinical groups. The multi-route model of alexithymia is discussed, which posits that there are multiple psychological pathways underlying alexithymia. In particular, the language hypothesis of alexithymia proposes that language impairments predispose language impaired groups to alexithymia. To enrich the theoretical discussion, the theory of constructed emotion is considered, introducing novel areas for research on the representation and acquisition of emotion concepts in alexithymic individuals.</p> <p><strong>Chapter 2</strong> presents an integrated systematic review and meta-analysis on the relationships between alexithymia and (i) multi-domain language impairments, and (ii) emotional granularity. A modest association was found between alexithymia and language impairments, and elevated alexithymic traits were evident in language impaired groups relative to those with typical language in a small subset of studies. Alexithymia was associated with less fine-grained perception of emotional experience.</p> <p><strong>Chapter 3</strong> investigates the prospective relationship between childhood language impairments and alexithymic traits in adolescence using data from the SCALES cohort. Supporting the language hypothesis, boys with low language function at ages 4-5 and those who later met the diagnostic criteria of language disorders at ages 5-6 reported more difficulties differentiating emotions and paying less attention to others’ emotions at ages 12-13 than peers with typical language. Early structural language difficulties were consistently associated with elevated alexithymic traits in adolescence.</p> <p><strong>Chapter 4</strong> adopts a strength-based approach, using professional writers as a model to study the role of language talents in emotional self-awareness. Results showed that writers had very low levels of alexithymic traits when compared to non-writers, and this group difference was related to higher self-reported interoceptive accuracy in writers compared to non-writers. Both writers and non-writers showed similar structural organisation of emotion concepts, which did not significantly predict their alexithymic traits.</p> <p><strong>Chapter 5</strong> tests the link between alexithymia and emotion concept acquisition. Experiments 1 and 2 found no robust associations between alexithymia and emotion concept learning processes, but an indirect pathway between alexithymia and more stochastic choices through co-occurring anxiety symptoms. Experiment 3 found this same indirect pathway through anxiety when learning abstract non-emotion concepts, suggesting a general choice characteristic.</p> <p><strong>Chapter 6</strong> investigates the relationships between autistic and alexithymic traits and information gathering. In a sample of typically-developing youths (aged 6-25 years), autistic traits were consistently associated with more information gathering regardless of information type and cost of information gathering. Computational modelling suggested that this was related to later emergence of subjective cost of information gathering, promoting later guesses in those with higher autistic traits. Alexithymia was uniquely associated with inconsistent reporting of emotional responses to rewards and losses, and reduced gathering of emotional information when analysing parent-report measures, suggesting a novel treatment target.</p> <p>Finally, <strong>Chapter 7</strong> summarises the key findings and discusses their theoretical and methodological implications with respect to a multi-route model of alexithymia. This is followed by a general discussion of the utility of the theory of constructed emotion. Future directions and clinical implications are also discussed. Together, this collection of work seeks to refine the theoretical framework of the multi-route model of alexithymia and highlights the importance of mechanism-focused research, with the ultimate goal of informing treatments for the wide array of alexithymic individuals.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Lee, KK-S Furthering the multi-route model of alexithymia: a constructionist perspective |
| title | Furthering the multi-route model of alexithymia: a constructionist perspective |
| title_full | Furthering the multi-route model of alexithymia: a constructionist perspective |
| title_fullStr | Furthering the multi-route model of alexithymia: a constructionist perspective |
| title_full_unstemmed | Furthering the multi-route model of alexithymia: a constructionist perspective |
| title_short | Furthering the multi-route model of alexithymia: a constructionist perspective |
| title_sort | furthering the multi route model of alexithymia a constructionist perspective |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT leekks furtheringthemultiroutemodelofalexithymiaaconstructionistperspective |