reconsider

Alexithymia, derived from the Greek roots meaning “no words for feelings,” refers to a pattern of difficulties in identifying, describing, and cognitively processing emotions . Historically, the term alexithymia was introduced by Sifneos (1970) within the context of psychosomatic and somatoform disorders, based on his collaborative clinical work with Nemiah. At that time, it was conceptualized as a dichotomous clinical variable. However, the phenomenon itself had been observed long before it was formally named. Various psychiatrists had described patients who showed marked difficulty in identifying and expressing emotions. In the mid-twentieth century, psychosomatic disorders were largely interpreted through psychoanalytic frameworks, particularly Freudian models that attributed physical symptoms to unresolved unconscious conflicts. Yet the limited and inconsistent empirical support for these explanations, along with mixed evidence regarding the effec...

Our body is constantly active. The heart beats, the lungs expand and contract, the stomach digests, and countless physiological processes unfold without deliberate control. Most of these visceral activities operate automatically. Yet automatic does not mean inaccessible. Humans are capable of sensing signals generated within their own bodies. Interoceptive awareness refers to the ability to perceive and interpret these internal bodily signals. Interoception has become an increasingly central concept across multiple domains of psychology. A substantial body of research links maladaptive interoceptive processing to negative mood states, suggesting that not only the presence of bodily signals, but the way they are interpreted, matters for psychological functioning. This insight has even contributed to the integration of interoceptive training components into certain therapeutic approaches. James–Lange Theory of Emotion ...