Titre :

How do self-assessment of alexithymia and sensitivity to bodily sensations relate to alcohol consumption?

Auteur(s) :

Betka, Sophie [Auteur]
Brighton and Sussex Medical School [BSMS]
University of Sussex
Laboratoire Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives - UMR 9193 [SCALab]
Pfeifer, Gaby [Auteur]
Brighton and Sussex Medical School [BSMS]
Garfinkel, Sarah [Auteur]
Brighton and Sussex Medical School [BSMS]
University of Sussex
Prins, Hielke [Auteur]
Brighton and Sussex Medical School [BSMS]
University of Sussex
Bond, Rod [Auteur]
University of Sussex
Sequeira, Henrique [Auteur]
Unité de Recherche Pluridisciplinaire Sport, Santé, Société (URePSSS) - ULR 7369 - ULR 4488 [URePSSS]
Duka, Theodora [Auteur]
University of Sussex
Critchley, Hugo [Auteur]
Brighton and Sussex Medical School [BSMS]
University of Sussex

Titre de la revue :

Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research

Nom court de la revue :

Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res.

Numéro :

42

Pagination :

81-88

Date de publication :

2017-12-04

ISSN :

1530-0277

Discipline(s) HAL :

Sciences cognitives

Résumé en anglais : [en]

BACKGROUND: Alexithymia describes an abnormality of emotional experience that is commonly expressed among individuals with addiction and alcohol abuse disorders. Alexithymic individuals are characterized by difficulties ...
Lire la suite >BACKGROUND: Alexithymia describes an abnormality of emotional experience that is commonly expressed among individuals with addiction and alcohol abuse disorders. Alexithymic individuals are characterized by difficulties in identifying and describing their emotions. This impairment is linked to the development and maintenance of addiction. Moreover, an emergent theory suggests alexithymia is itself secondary to a failure of interoception (sensitivity to internal bodily signals, including physiological arousal states). METHODS: The present study tested for hypothesized contributory roles of alexithymia and dysfunctional interoception in the expression of binge drinking. Alexithymia, subjective sensitivity to bodily sensations, and alcohol consumption scores were quantified using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, the Body Perception Questionnaire and the Alcohol Use Questionnaire respectively, in a normative sample (N=600). Regression and bootstrapping mediation analyses were used to test the hypothesis that alexithymia mediated the association between sensitivity to bodily sensations and alcohol consumption. RESULTS: Alexithymia was positively correlated with sensitivity to bodily sensations and with alcohol consumption. Mediation analysis revealed that alexithymia, and more precisely, difficulty in identifying feelings, mediated the relationship between sensitivity to bodily sensations and alcohol consumption, such that the predictive effect of sensitivity to bodily sensations on alcohol intake became non-significant when controlling for alexithymia. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that alexithymia is associated with subjective hypersensitivity to bodily sensations. Moreover, our findings support the theoretical proposal that alexithymia is an expression of impaired processing of bodily sensations including physiological arousal, which underpin the development of maladaptive coping strategies, including alcohol use disorders. Our observations extend a growing literature emphasizing the importance of interoception and alexithymia in addiction, which can inform the development of new therapeutic strategies. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Lire moins >

Langue :

Anglais

Audience :

Non spécifiée

Établissement(s) :

Université de Lille
CNRS
CHU Lille
Univ. Littoral Côte d’Opale
Univ. Artois

Collections :

• Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives (SCALab) - UMR 9193

Équipe(s) de recherche :

Équipe Dynamique Émotionnelle et Pathologies (DEEP)

Date de dépôt :

2019-02-13T14:17:40Z
2020-02-13T11:28:35Z