Aktuelle perspektiven der alexithymie

Although alexithymia is found in patients with various somatic disorders, it remains unclear whether it is really related to organic disease - as proposed by the founders of the concept. As the interplay between the experience of emotion and possible adverse effects on health is a fundamental tenet of psychosomatic medicine, alexithymia remains an interesting concept to be further explored, especially concerning (1) possible pathways linking emotion to physical illness and (2) the neurobiologic basis of emotional information processing. Compared to the intense international discussion on the subject, in Germany there are still many doubts concerning alexithymia: while some clinicians question the validity of the whole concept, psychiatric and psychosomatic researchers seem unsure about alexithymia's role in their search for a physiological basis to the link between emotion and physical disease. Our review deals with the empirical literature concerning that possible association and tries to tie in their data with modern, neurobiologically founded insights into emotional information processing within the brain.