Whilst further research is needed to confirm the direction of causality between disrupted sleep and alexithymia and how these subjective sleep reports in alexithymia map onto objectively measured sleep problems, these data suggest a link that is independent of depression and anxiety, she said.
Meanwhile, other researchers report that alexithymia is becoming more clinically relevant. Rising rates of alexithymia are being reported in psychiatric conditions such as autism, eating disorders, schizophrenia, and alcohol and substance abuse. The condition is also seen in neurologic conditions such as multiple sclerosis and traumatic brain injury (Neuropsychologica. 2018;11:229-40).
Ms. Murphy and her associates cited several limitations of their research. One is that they did not control for factors that affect sleep quality and alexithymia such as body composition. They also cited reports of discrepancies between objective and subjective measures – such as those made by self-report – and the relatively small sample sizes.
The research was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Baily Thomas Charitable Trust. No conflicts of interest were reported.
SOURCE: Murphy J et al. Pers Individ Dif. 2018 Mar 27;129:175-8.