Psychology
What does Alexithymia mean?
Difficulty identifying and naming what one feels: the body reacts, the word does not arrive.
Definition
Alexithymia — Greek a- lexis thymos, no words for affect — was coined by Peter Sifneos in the early 1970s, with John Nemiah, in psychosomatic patients with a thin inner vocabulary and outwardly aimed thinking. Research finds a high rate in autism; the construct remains separate.
The TAS-20 (Bagby, Parker and Taylor, 1994) is the questionnaire many teams use. Online the name became a shortcut for “I don’t know what I’m feeling”: the body tightens and the word does not arrive.
Origin
Greek joins a-, lexis and thymos. Sifneos coined alexithymia in 1972, with Nemiah, in psychosomatic work in Boston. The Beth Israel Questionnaire (BIQ) came in 1973. Bagby, Parker and Taylor’s TAS-20 appeared in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research in 1994.
History
From the BIQ the path ran to the TAS-20 and autism TikTok. Nemiah, Freyberger and Sifneos framed the construct in 1976. Online speech uses the name for tightness without a word, distinct from moral coldness.
How it emerged
A name was missing for a thin inner vocabulary. Pensée opératoire already described the style; Sifneos stuck the Greek on it and the TAS-20 gave the scale research cites.
Usage examples
He describes the body (tightness, nausea) instead of the emotion.
The word for the feeling does not arrive even though the chest tightens.
Translations
- pt alexitimia
- en alexithymia
- es alexitimia
Synonyms
- alexithymia
- Sifneos
- TAS-20