Comparing alexithymia scales in relation to emotion regulation, distress and positive and negative affect

Abstract

Alexithymia is conceptualised as the inability to experience, identify and express emotions, in which it is conceptualised in terms of deficits in cognitive processing and regulation of emotional states. Alexithymia is a trait in the general population that is associated with mental health disorders but can also impair any psychological treatment effectiveness. The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) is a widely known and commonly used scale to measure alexithymia based on psychoanalytic theory. However, a recent model of alexithymia, attention-appraisal model, explained symptoms of alexithymia in stages of emotion regulation and emphasised emotional valence. Based on this model, Preece et al. (2018) developed the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ) to incorporate positive and negative valence. There is limited research in comparing the predictability of TAS-20 and PAQ in relation to emotional regulation psychological distress and positive and negative affect. Therefore, this study utilised bivariate correlation and multiple regression to compare the PAQ and TAS-20 in their relation to the variables. Results have shown that compared to TAS-20, PAQ is similar in the prediction of emotional regulation, and psychological distress. However, the PAQ EOT subscale has a better prediction compared to TAS-20 EOT subscale. The positive and negative subscales did not show a difference in correlation with positive and negative affect. Although PAQ is recommended over TAS-20 due to slightly better prediction, however, it did not distinguish between positive and negative valence. Therefore, future research should focus on whether high in alexithymia discriminates positive and negative affect and the conceptual and practice issues. This study further demonstrated the usefulness of identifying alexithymia in individuals in order to suggest the most appropriate therapy. Key words: Alexithymia, Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire, Toronto Alexithymia Scale.