Alexithymia and psychological and physical vulnerability

Subject Areas : Thoughts and Behavior in Clinical Psychology

Mohamad Ali Besharat ¹ , Marziyeh Masoodi ² , Masood Gholamali Lavasani ³

1 - دپارتمان روانشناسی، دانشگاه تهران، تهران، ایران
2 - دپارتمان روانشناسی، دانشگاه تهران، تهران، ایران
3 - دپارتمان روانشناسی، دانشگاه تهران، تهران، ایران

Received: 2015-08-08 Accepted : 2015-08-08 Published : 2015-03-21

Keywords: Alexithymia, psychological vulnerability, physical vulnerability,

Abstract :

One of the research goals in psychology approaches, is to understand the factors that contribute to vulnerability of people. Investigation and identification of psychological and physical vulnerability factors has created a new orientation in prevention, diagnosis and adoption of the treatment method. People might have special physical and psychological vulnerabilities that predispose them to mental and physical disorders. Alexithymia is one of the traumatic variables. This study aims to predict psychological and physical vulnerabilities based on alexithymia. In this study, the moderator role of gender and marriage is studied in the relationship between psychological and physical vulnerability with alexithymia. 206 men and 193 women from the general population of Tehran participated in this study. The participants completed the symptoms Check list and the 20-itemToronto alexithymia scale. The results indicated that alexithymia has significant difference with psychological vulnerability and physical vulnerability at p<0.01 level. Marriage, also has the role of moderator in the relationship between alexithymia and physical vulnerability. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that early detection of alexithymia, can help prevent physical and psychological damage. We can also manage and treat alexithymia in the context of intervention models.