Alexithymia in Anorexia Nervosa, More State Than Trait? A Multi‐Dimensional Assessment of Emotion Processing in Patients With Anorexia Nervosa, Recovered Patients and Healthy Controls.

Objective: Alexithymia is implicated in both development and maintenance of Anorexia Nervosa (AN). It is unclear what defines alexithymia in AN. In this study, emotion processing related to alexithymia was examined. Method: 40 patients with AN, 43 recovered (RC) patients and 35 matched healthy contr...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:European Eating Disorders Review Vol. 34; no. 5; pp. 1402 - 1412
Autores principales: Wezenberg, E., Peters, S. K., van Elburg, A. A., Mares, S. H. W.
Formato: research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: Wiley-Blackwell Sep2026
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=195862507&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ccm
    uiTerm: 195862507
    longDbName: CINAHL Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    dissinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        10724133
        BVM
      jtl: European Eating Disorders Review
      issn: 10724133
      maglogo: Y
    pubinfo:
      dt: Sep2026
      vid: 34
      iid: 5
      pid: 480
      pub: Wiley-Blackwell
      place: Malden, Massachusetts
    artinfo:
      ui:
        195862507
        193834619
        195862507
        195862507
        10.1002/erv.70125
        195862507
      ppf: 1402
      ppct: 10
      formats:
      tig:
        atl: Alexithymia in Anorexia Nervosa, More State Than Trait? A Multi‐Dimensional Assessment of Emotion Processing in Patients With Anorexia Nervosa, Recovered Patients and Healthy Controls.
      aug:
        au:
          Wezenberg, E.
          Peters, S. K.
          van Elburg, A. A.
          Mares, S. H. W.
        affil: Department of Eating Disorders (Amarum), GGNet Mental Health, Warnsveld, the Netherlands
      sug:
        subj:
          Anorexia Nervosa Psychosocial Factors
          Affective Symptoms Psychosocial Factors
          Emotions Evaluation
          Psychophysiology
          Self Report
          Netherlands
          Human
          Female
          Male
          Adult
          Comparative Studies
          Descriptive Statistics
          Questionnaires
          Personality
          DSM
          Cross Sectional Studies
          Paradigms
          Multivariate Analysis of Variance
          Repeated Measures
          Analysis of Variance
          Eating Disorders Pathology
          Depression
          Emotional Regulation
          Colleges and Universities
          Task Performance and Analysis
          Summated Rating Scaling
          Data Analysis Software
          Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale
          Scales
          Adult: 19-44 years
          Female
          Male
      ab: Objective: Alexithymia is implicated in both development and maintenance of Anorexia Nervosa (AN). It is unclear what defines alexithymia in AN. In this study, emotion processing related to alexithymia was examined. Method: 40 patients with AN, 43 recovered (RC) patients and 35 matched healthy controls (HC) filled out questionnaires on eating disorder pathology (EDE‐Q), depression (CES‐D), alexithymia (TAS‐20), and emotion regulation (DERS). BMI was obtained. Behavioural (naming emotions, valence and intensity ratings) and physiological responses (heart rate and skin conductance) to emotional stimuli were assessed. Data were analysed for group differences, and controlled for effects of depression. Results: Although high levels of negative affect, alexithymia and emotion regulation problems were found in self‐report questionnaires, the AN group was able to identify and name simple explicit emotions, and showed only subtle signs of reduced physiological responsiveness when viewing the emotion pictures. The RC group only showed differences to the healthy control group in self‐assessed alexithymia. Conclusions: The present results give more evidence of alexithymia as a state than a trait feature in AN. Longitudinal studies are advised to gain more insight into how eating disorder behaviours versus alexithymia and emotion regulation change during the recovery process of AN. Highlights: The current comparison of multiple groups with an extensive mix of measures (self‐reports, behavioural and physiological) provides a differentiated insight in emotion processing in AN. The AN group reports more problems in emotion recognition and expression than how they perform.The recovered group hardly differs from healthy controls in most clinical, behavioural or physiological measures of eating disorder psychopathology and emotion processing.Alexithymia in AN appears to be more state than trait.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
    refInfo:
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N