Alexithymia is usually regarded as a disturbance of affect
regulation (Talyor, Bagby and Parker, 1997). The literal meaning
of the word alexithymia is `no words for feelings'. The
construct alexithymia has undergone a continuing development for
the past years, according to recent definitions alexithymia
consists of the following salient features: - Difficulties
defining emotions and differentiating emotions and the bodily
sensations of emotional arousal. - Difficulties in describing
emotions to other people, verbalizing. - Limited imaginative
processes, a lack of fantasy. - a stimulus bound, externally
oriented cognitive style. (Taylor, Bagby and Parker, 1997)
Alexithymia is usually measured with the Toronto Alexithymia
Scale(TAS-20), developed by the Taylor group. A shortcoming of
this test is that it doesn't fully cover the alexithymia
spectrum (Zech, Luminet, Rimé, and Wagner, 1999; Berthoz, Perez-
Diaz, Consoli, and Jouvent, 2000; Vorst, and Bermond, 2001).
Only the features 1, 2 and 4 are in the TAS-20. A