Traumatic experiences, alexithymia, and posttraumatic symptomatology: A cross-sectional population-based study in Germany

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

Volumn 5, Issue , 2014, Pages

  Eichhorn, Svenja ^a   Brähler, Elmar ^a,b   Franz, Matthias ^c   Friedrich, Michael ^a   Glaesmer, Heide ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LEIPZIG   (Germany)

^b UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER MAINZ   (Germany)

^c HEINRICH HEINE UNIVERSITY   (Germany)

Author keywords

Avoidance numbing; Mediation; Multiple and complex traumatization; PTSD; TAS 20

Indexed keywords

EID: 84973515629     PISSN: None     EISSN: 20008066     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3402/ejpt.v5.23870     Document Type: Article

References (49)

1. American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, (4th ed., text revision).Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
2. Badura, A. S. (2003). Theoretical and empirical exploration of the similarities between emotional numbing in posttraumatic stress disorder and alexithymia. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 17(3), 349-60.
3. Bagby, R. M., Parker, J. D. A., & Taylor, G. J. (1994a). The 20-Item Toronto-Alexithymia-Scale*1. Item selection and crossvalidation of the factor structure. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 38(1), 23-32.
4. Bagby, R. M., Taylor, G. J., & Parker, J. D. A. (1994b). The 20-Item Toronto-Alexithymia-Scale*2. Convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 38(1), 33.
5. Breslau, N. (2009). The epidemiology of trauma, PTSD, and other posttrauma disorders. Trauma Violence & Abuse, 10(3), 198-210.
6. Breslau, N., Peterson, E. L., Kessler, R. C., & Schultz, L. R. (1999). Short screening scale for DSM-IV posttraumatic stress disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 156(6), 908-911.
7. Cloitre, M., Garvert, D. W., Brewin, C. R., Bryant, R. A., & Maercker, A. (2013). Evidence for proposed ICD-11 PTSD and complex PTSD: A latent profile analysis. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 4, 412. doi: 10.3402/ejpt.v4i0.20706.
8. Cloitre, M., Scarvalone, P., & Difede, J. (1997). Posttraumatic stress disorder, self-and interpersonal dysfunction among sexually retraumatized women. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 10(3), 437-452. doi: 10.1002/jts.2490100309.
9. Declercq, F., Vanheule, S., & Deheegher, J. (2010). Alexithymia and posttraumatic stress: Subscales and symptom clusters. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 66(10), 1076-1089.
10. Evren, C., Dalbudak, E., Cetin, R., Durkaya, M., & Evren, B. (2010). Relationship of alexithymia and temperament and character dimensions with lifetime post-traumatic stress disorder in male alcohol-dependent inpatients. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 64(2), 111-119.
11. Foa, E. B., Riggs, D. S., Dancu, C. V., & Rothbaum, B. O. (1993). Reliability and validity of a brief instrument for assessing posttraumatic-stress-disorder. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 6(4), 459-473.
12. Ford, J. D. (1999). Disorders of extreme stress following war-zone military trauma: Associated features of posttraumatic stress disorder or comorbid but distinct syndromes? Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67(1), 3-12.
13. Franz, M., Popp, K., Schaefer, R., Sitte, W., Schneider, C., Hardt, J., et al. (2008). Alexithymia in the German general population. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 43(1), 54-62.
14. Franz, M., Schneider, C., & Schafer, R. (2001). Reliability testing of the German version of TAS-20*Validity and factorial structure. Psychotherapie Psychosomatik Medizinische Psychologie, 51(2), 90-91.
15. Franz, M., Schneider, C., Schafer, R., Schmitz, N., & Zweyer, K. (2001). Factorial structure and psychometric properties of the German version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) of psychosomatic patients. Psychotherapie Psychosomatik Medizinische Psychologie, 51(2), 48-55.
16. Frazier, P. A., Tix, A. P., & Barron, K. E. (2004). Testing moderator and mediator effects in counseling psychology research. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51(1), 115-134. doi: 10.1037/0022-0167.51.1.115.
17. Frewen, P. A., Dozois, D. J., Neufeld, R. W., & Lanius, R. A. (2008). Meta-analysis of alexithymia in posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 21(2), 243-246.
18. Frewen, P. A., Lanius, R. A., Dozois, D. J., Neufeld, R. W., Pain, C., Hopper, J. W., et al. (2008a). Clinical and neural correlates of alexithymia in posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117(1), 171-181.
19. Fukunishi, I., Sasaki, K., Chishima, Y., Anze, M., & Saijo, M. (1996). Emotional disturbances in trauma patients during the rehabilitation phase*Studies of posttraumatic stress disorder and alexithymia. General Hospital Psychiatry, 18(2), 121-127.
20. Glaesmer, H., Brähler, E., Gundel, H., & Riedel-Heller, S. G. (2011). The association of traumatic experiences and posttraumatic stress disorder with physical morbidity in old age: A German population-based study. Psychosomatic Medicine, 73(5), 401-406. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0b013e31821b47e8.
21. Gundel, H., Ceballos-Baumann, A. O., & Von Rad, M. (2002). Psychodynamic and neurobiological influences in the etiology of alexithymia. Psychotherapie Psychosomatik Medizinische Psychologie, 52(11), 479-486.
22. Hauffa, R., Rief, W., Brähler, E., Maertin, A., Mewes, R., & Glaesmer, H. (2011). Lifetime traumatic experiences and posttraumatic stress disorder in the German population results of a representative population survey. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 199(12), 934-939.
23. Hayes, A. F. (2012). PROCESS: A versatile computational tool for observed variable mediation, moderation, and conditional process modeling. Retrieved October 12, 2013, from http://www.afhayes.com
24. Jorgensen, M. M., Ornbol, E., Toft, T., Olesen, F., Zachariae, R., & Fink, P. (2002). The association between alexithymia and prevalence of ICD-10 somatoform disorders. Psychosomatic Medicine, 64(1), 170.
25. Kessler, H., Kammerer, M., Hoffmann, H., & Traue, H. C. (2010). Regulation of emotions and alexithymia: A correlative study. Psychotherapie Psychosomatik Medizinische Psychologie, 60(5), 169-174.
26. Kessler, R. C. (2005). Prevalence, severity, and comorbidity of 12-month DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62(6), 617. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.617.
27. Kessler, R. C., Sonnega, A., Bromet, E., Hughes, M., & Nelson, C. B. (1995). Posttraumatic-stress-disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey. Archives of General Psychiatry, 52(12), 1048-1060.
28. Maercker, A. (Ed.). (2003). Therapie der Posttraumatischen Belastungsstörungen [Therapy of posttraumatic stress disorder]. Berlin: Springer.
29. Maercker, A., Forstmeier, S., Wagner, B., Glaesmer, H., & Brähler, E. (2008). Post-traumatic stress disorder in Germany. Results of a nationwide epidemiological study. Der Nervenarzt, 79(5), 577-586.
30. McCaslin, S. E., Metzler, T. J., Best, S. R., Liberman, A., Weiss, D. S., Fagan, J., et al. (2006). Alexithymia and PTSD symptoms in urban police officers: Cross-sectional and prospective findings. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 19(3), 361-73.
31. McLean, L. M., Toner, B., Jackson, J., Desrocher, M., & Stuckless, N. (2006). The relationship between childhood sexual abuse, complex post-traumatic stress disorder and alexithymia in two outpatient samples: Examination of women treated in community and institutional clinics. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 15(3), 1-17. doi: 10.1300/J070v15n03-01.
32. Popp, K., Schaefer, R., Schneider, C., Brähler, E., Decker, O., Hardt, J., et al. (2008). Factor structure and reliability of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) in the German population. Psychotherapie Psychosomatik Medizinische Psychologie, 58(5), 208-214.
33. Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40(3), 879-891. doi: 10.3758/BRM.40.3.879.
34. Rufer, M., Moergeli, H., Moritz, S., Drabe, N., & Weidt, S. (2014). Alexithymia and non-treatment: An Internet based study of 312 people with chronic anxiety. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 55(1), 179-187. doi: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2013.06.007.
35. Sobel, M. E. (1986). Some new results on indirect effects and their standard errors in covariance structure models. Sociological Methodology, 16, 159-186.
36. Sondergaard, H. P., & Theorell, T. (2004). Alexithymia, emotions and PTSD; findings from a longitudinal study of refugees. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 58(3), 185-191.
37. Spitzer, C., Barnow, S., Volzke, H., John, U., Freyberger, H. J., & Grabe, H. J. (2008). Trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in the elderly: Findings from a German community study. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 69(5), 693-700.
38. Spitzer, C., Schilling, L., John, U., Völzke, H., Appel, K., Schulz, A., et al. (2013). Alexithymie, traumatischer stress und posttraumatische Belastungsstörung*Befunde aus der Allgemeinbevolkerung [Alexithymia, traumatic stress and posttraumatic stress disorder: findings from the general population]. Zeitschrift fü r Psychiatrie, Psychologie und Psychotherapie, 61(1), 27-36. doi: 10.1024/1661-4747/a000137.
39. Spitzer, C., Vogel, M., Barnow, S., Freyberger, H. J., & Grabe, H. J. (2007). Psychopathology and alexithymia in severe mental illness: The impact of trauma and posttraumatic stress symptoms. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 257(4), 191-196.
40. Stieglitz, R. D., Frommberger, U., Foa, E. B., & Berger, M. (2001). Evaluation of the German version of the PTSD Symptom Scale (PSS). Psychopathology, 34(3), 128-133.
41. Taylor, G. J., & Bagby, R. M. (2013). Psychoanalysis and empirical research: The example of alexithymia. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 61(1), 99-133. doi: 10.1177/ 0003065112474066.
42. Taylor, G. J., Bagby, R. M., & Parker, J. D. A. (Eds.). (1997). Disorders of Affect Regulation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
43. Tolmunen, T., Heliste, M., Lehto, S. M., Hintikka, J., Honkalampi, K., & Kauhanen, J. (2011). Stability of alexithymia in the general population: An 11-year follow-up. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 52(5), 536-541.
44. Van Ameringen, M., Mancini, C., Patterson, B., & Boyle, M. H. (2008). Post-traumatic stress disorder in Canada. CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics, 14(3), 171-181.
45. Van der Kolk, B. A., & Courtois, C. A. (2005). Editorial comments: Complex developmental trauma. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 18(5), 385-88.
46. Wittchen, H.-U., & Pfister, H. (Eds.). (1997). DIA-X-Interviews: Manual fü r Screeningverfahren und Interviews, Interviewheft [DIA-X-interviews: Manual for screening methods and interviews, interview book]. Frannkfurt/Main: Swets & Zeitlinger.
47. Yehuda, R., Steiner, A., Kahana, B., BinderBrynes, K., Southwick, S. M., Zemelman, S., et al. (1997). Alexithymia in Holocaust survivors with and without PTSD. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 10(1), 93-100.
48. Zeitlin, S. B., Mcnally, R. J., & Cassiday, K. L. (1993). Alexithymia in victims of sexual assault*An effect of repeated traumatization. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150(4), 661-663.
49. Zlotnick, C., Mattia, J. I., & Zimmerman, M. (2001). The relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder, childhood trauma and alexithymia in an outpatient sample. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 14(1), 177-188.