Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Feb 14:10:991.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00991. eCollection 2019.

Alexithymia and Treatment Outcome in Anorexia Nervosa: A Scoping Review of the Literature

Carla Gramaglia  1   2 , Eleonora Gambaro  1   2 , Patrizia Zeppegno  1   2
Affiliations

Alexithymia and Treatment Outcome in Anorexia Nervosa: A Scoping Review of the Literature

Carla Gramaglia et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Alexithymia is of great interest as an outcome predictor of recovery from anorexia nervosa, since it may interfere with both treatment compliance and patients' ability to benefit from the adopted interventions. For this reason, in the last years new treatment approaches targeting emotion identification, expression, and regulation have been applied and tested. Using the PRISMA methodology, we performed a scoping review of the literature about treatment outcome in anorexia nervosa, in terms of changes in alexithymia as assessed by its most commonly used self-report measure, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS). The Medline and Scopus databases were searched, and articles were included if matching the following criteria: dealing with patients affected by anorexia nervosa, without limits of age; involving the application of any kind of targeted therapy or treatment; assessing alexithymia and the effect of a treatment intervention on alexithymia, using the TAS. Ten studies were eventually included; overall, according to the selected studies, alexithymia levels often remain high even after specific treatment. Further research aimed at a deeper understanding of the actual impact of alexithymia on the outcome of anorexia, as well as exploring alternative treatment strategies for alexithymia in eating disorders (EDs), are warranted.

Keywords: PRISMA; alexithymia; anorexia nervosa; outcome; systematic review; treatment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA 2009 Flow Diagram.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Guillen V, Santos B, Munoz P, Fernandez de Corres B, Fernandez E, Perez I, et al. Toronto alexithymia scale for patients with eating disorder: of performance using the nonparametric item response theory. Compr Psychiatry (2014) 55(5):1285–91. 10.1016/j.comppsych.2014.03.020 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Speranza M, Loas G, Guilbaud O, Corcos M. Are treatment options related to alexithymia in eating disorders? Results from a three-year naturalistic longitudinal study. Biomed Pharmacother (2011) 65(8):585–9. 10.1016/j.biopha.2010.01.009 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Aleman A. Feelings you can’t imagine: towards a cognitive neuroscience of alexithymia. Trends Cogn Sci (2005) 9:227–33. 10.1016/j.tics.2005.10.002 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wingbermuhle K, Theunissen H, Verhoeven WMA, Kessels RPC, Egger JIM. The neurocognition of alexithymia: evidence from neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies. Acta Neuropsychiatrica (2012) 24:67–80. - PubMed
    1. Luminet O, Bagby RM, Taylor GJ. An evaluation of the absolute and relative stability of alexithymia in patients with major depression. Psychother Psychosom (2001) 70(5):254–60. 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2007.01.003 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources