Alexithymia as a Factor of Somatization of Psychological Problems

Abstract

The paper notes the urgency of the problem of deeper understanding and re­search of the relationship between alexithymia and somatic diseases, that may be important for more effective diagnosis, prevention and prediction of profes­sional care for people with psychosomatic diseases. Analysis of the characteris­tics of people with alexithymia and manifestations of psychosomatic diseases will help to form common criteria that are important to consider at the first visit to a doctor or psychologist. The purpose of the article is to identify the relationship between alexithy­mia and personality traits in individuals with a tendency to somatization of psy­chological problems. The following methods were used to achieve the tasks: theoretical analysis of the scientific literature, psychodiagnostic and statistical methods corresponding to the research tasks. The study involved 61 people, 34 women and 27 men among them, volun­tarily and anonymously participated in the study. As a result of the study, the concept of alexithymia and the coverage of this phenomenon in the modern scientific literature are analyzed. The processing of the literature accumulated on this topic made it possible to draw conclusions about the history of the study of alexithymia, its characteristics and manifesta­tions, connections, this phenomenon has with other psychological constructs, as well as to make assumptions about the future direction of this phenomenon. In the course of empirical research, it was established that there are various connections, in particular the psychological characteristics of persons prone to psychosomatic manifestations. The connection between alexithymia and de­pression, general distress as a reaction to life’s difficulties, as well as irritability and insufficiently formed regulation of the emotional sphere was revealed. Conclusion. The analysis made it possible to draw conclusions about the characteristics inherent in individuals prone to psychosomatic disorders. Con­tinuing to develop and explore solutions to understanding emotions and emo­tional self-expression would be interesting from a gender perspective. Further study of alexithymia and somatization and their gender and gender characteris­tics, in our opinion, should be associated with the completion of a relatively new phenomenon of normative male alexithymia.