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Selected Works

Alexithymia

Publication Year

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Full-Text Articles in Cognitive Psychology

Alexithymia And Drinking In Young Adults: The Role Of Alcohol-Related Intrusive Thoughts, Michael Lyvers, Olena Lysychka, Fred Thorberg Aug 2015

Alexithymia And Drinking In Young Adults: The Role Of Alcohol-Related Intrusive Thoughts, Michael Lyvers, Olena Lysychka, Fred Thorberg

Mike Lyvers

Alexithymia refers to difficulties identifying and describing emotions, an externalised thinking style and a lack of imagination. Alexithymia has been linked to heavier drinking in community samples and is strongly associated with alcohol use disorders. Among patients undergoing treatment for alcohol dependence, alexithymia is associated with more intrusive thoughts about drinking. The present research asked whether this may also be the case in a non-clinical sample of social drinkers and whether such intrusive thoughts mediate the relationship between alexithymia and drinking. Participants were 113 university undergraduates aged 18–30 years who completed self-report indices of alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, or TAS-20), …


Alexithymia, Craving And Attachment In A Heavy Drinking Population, Fred Thorberg, Ross Young, Karen Sullivan, Michael Lyvers, Jason Connor, Gerald Feeney Feb 2011

Alexithymia, Craving And Attachment In A Heavy Drinking Population, Fred Thorberg, Ross Young, Karen Sullivan, Michael Lyvers, Jason Connor, Gerald Feeney

Mike Lyvers

Up to fifty per cent of individuals with Alcohol use disorders (AUD) also have alexithymia a personality construct hypothesized to be related to attachment difficulties. The relationship between alexithymia, craving, anxious attachment and alcohol-dependence severitywas examined in254 patients participating in a Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) programfor alcohol-dependence. Participants completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS), the Revised Adult Attachment Anxiety Subscale (RAAS-Anxiety) and the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). MANOVA indicated that individuals with alexithymia reported significantly higher levels of totalOCDS, obsessive thoughts about alcohol, and compulsive drinking urges and behavior, compared to the non-alexithymic …