Neurobiological, Neuropsychological,Linguistic and Gestural Processes and Phenomena in Individuals With Alexithymia

NCT00830752 | Unknown

• 1 other identifier: ALEX 2009
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 70
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The syndrome of extremely restricted emotional competence, alexithymia, was originally conceptualized in psychoanalytic research and is now empirically and experimentally studied in clinical psychology and psychological medicine within the context of emotion regulation using neuroscientific techniques. Alexithymia refers to an individual's inability or impaired ability to name or express feelings and to distinguish them from the physical consequences of an acute or chronic stress reaction. Modern "brain-body-interface" research suggests that alexithymia represents a complex deficiency in cognitive processing and emotional regulatory processes. The neurobiological basis is assumed to be a preconscious, automatic and involuntary information transfer to the amygdalae of acquired representations of emotional contents stored in ventromedial prefrontal cortical areas. Alexithymia is not just "emotional coldness", i.e. a limited emotionality, but essentially the detachment of feelings from language. In alexithymia the link between affective phenomena and language, understood as media-supported sign practices, is insufficient or even absent. The purpose of our observational study is to better understand the neurobiological and neuropsychological as well as linguistic and gestural processes and determinants of this phenomenon

Conditions

Alexithymia

Keywords

alexithymia

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 60 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

70 individuals between the ages of 18 and 60 years, both genders, who score high on an alexithymia questionaire (TAS-20) and who are otherwise emotionally and physically healthy. Individuals are sampled via newspaper and poster advertisements throughout the greater metropolitan area of Berlin, Germany

You may qualify if:

• scoring high on the TAS-20

You may not qualify if:

• personal history of a mental disorder
• currently mentally ill

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Charite University, Berlin, Germany: lead

Study Sites (1)

Charite-Dept. of Psychiatry-Campus Benjamin Franklin

Berlin, 14050, Germany

Location

Biospecimen

Retention: SAMPLES WITH DNA

whole blood, serum

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Affective Symptoms

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: CASE ONLY
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 27, 2009
• First Posted: January 28, 2009
• Study Start: February 1, 2009
• Primary Completion: August 1, 2009
• Study Completion: December 1, 2009
• Last Updated: January 28, 2009

Record last verified: 2009-01

Locations

DE (1)