Alexithymia and empathy

The article presents a study dedicated to establish connections between alexithymia and emotional empathy abilities (in the form of the ability to understand the emo¬tions of others and empathize with them) and cognitive empathy (in the form of the ability to take into account of the of the other person's position while solving cog¬nitive tasks and also the ability to recognize precisely the emotions of another per¬son by facial expressions. 90 people from apparently healthy population were exam¬ined by complex of five tests. The ratio of different forms of empathy of individuals with high alexithymia level It is shown that their ability to emotional empathy is represented mainly by the primitive emotional tendency to be infected by the other people feelings. There is also mentioned a deficit of ability to understand the feel¬ings of others, to empathize with them and differentially respond to their emotions. On the contrary, the indicators of ability to change position (or cognitive empathy) are not becoming worse with the increase the rates of alexithymia. It is concluded that people with high level of alexithymia has broken emotional form of empathy and relatively preserved cognitive forms of empathy.

1. Andreeva I.N. Jemocional'nyj intellekt: issledovanija fenomena. Voprosy psihologii. 2006. № 3. Pp. 78—86.
2. Andreva I.N. Jemocional'nyj intellekt kak fenomen sovremennoj psihologii / Novo­polock: PGU, 2011. 388 p.
3. Gavrilova T.P. Problema jempatii: obzor zarubezhnyj issledovanij. Voprosy psihologii. 1975. № 2. Pp. 147—156.
4. Garanjan N.G., Holmogorova A.B. Koncepcii aleksitimii (obzor zarubezhnyh issle­dovanij). Sotsial'naia i klinicheskaia psikhiatriia. 2003. № 1. Pp. 128—145.
5. Eres'ko D.B., Isurina G.L. i dr. Aleksitimija i metody ee opredelenija pri pogranichnyh psihosomaticheskih rasstrojstvah. Posobie dlja psihologov i vrachej / Sankt­Peterburgskij nauchno­issledovatel'skij institut im. V.M. Behtereva. 2005.
6. Karjagina T.D. Filosofskie i nauchnye konteksty problemy jempatii. Moskovskij psi­hoterapevticheskij zhurnal. 2009. № 4. Pp. 50—74.
7. Kurek N.S. Preventivnaja patopsihologija: Rukovodstvo / M.: izdatel'stvo "Sputnik+", 2009.
8. Levshunova E.N. Vzaimsvjaz' jempatii i aleksimicheski­podobnyh projavlenij lichnosti. Materialy mezhregional'noj zaochnoj nauchno­prakticheskoj konferencii "Aktual'nye problemy psihologii lichnosti". NGPU, 2009.
9. Lemish V.V. Razvitie jemocional'noj sfery kak uslovie jeffektivnogo obshhenija v mlad­shemshkol'kom vozraste. Avtor. diss. kand. psihol. nauk, Moskva, 2010.
10. Holmogorova A.B. Metodika issledovaniia narusheniia refleksivnoi reguliatsii myshleni­ia na materiale opredeleniia poniatii. Vestnik MSU. Vol. 14. Psychology. № 3. 1983a. Pp. 64—69.
11. Holmogorova A.B. Narushenija refleksivnoj reguljacii poznavatel'noj dejatel'nosti pri shizofrenii: avtoref. dis. … kand. psihol. nauk. M., 1983b.
12. Baron-Cohen S., Leslie A. M., Frith U. Does the autistic child have a 'theory of mind' // Cognition. 1985. V.21. Pp. 37—46.
13. Blair R.J. Responding to the emotions of others: dissociating forms of empathy through the study of typical and psychiatric populations // Conscious Cogn. 2005. V. 14. Pp. 698—718.
14. Grynberg D., Luminet O., Corneille O., Grezez J., Berthoz O. Alexithymia in the inter­personal domain: a general deficit of empathy? // Personality and Individual Diffefences. 2010. № 49. Pp. 845—850.
15. Kleinberg J. Working with the alexithymic patient in groups / Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. 1996. № 13. Pp. 76—85.
16. Krystal H. Integration and Self Healing: Affect, Trauma, Alexithymia / Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press, 1988.
17. Lane R.D., Sechrest L., Reidel R., Weldon V. Impaired verbal and nonverbal emotion recognition in alexithymia // Psychosom. Med. 1996. № 58. Pp. 203—210.
18. McDonald P.W., Prkachin K.M. The expression and perception of facial emotion in alexithymia: A pilot study // Psychosom. Med. 1990. № 52. Pp. 199—210.
19. Mc Dougall J. The psychosoma and the psychoanalytic process // Int Rev Psychoanal. 1974. № 1. Pp. 437—459.
20. Mehrabian A., Epstein N. A measure of emotional empathy // J Pers. 1972. № 40. Pp. 525—543.