Poor awareness of one's own emotions and theory of mind appears to be a feature of many adult psychiatric conditions. In this study, we explored whether alexithymia and poor understanding of irony, both elements of the metacognitive system, were impaired in a clinical sample (n = 20) when compared to a non-clinical group (n = 35). We expected that both elements were impaired in the clinical group and explored whether they were correlated with personality disorder traits, global symptomatology, depression and anxiety. Finally, we sought to investigate whether alexithymia and difficulties in irony comprehension were related to each other. Results partially supported our hypotheses. Both emotional awareness and irony comprehension were impaired in the clinical vs. non-clinical sample. Alexithymia was related to personality disorder.
Alexithymia and irony comprehension and their relations with depression, anxiety, general symptomatology and personality disorders: A comparison between clinical and non-clinical participants
PEDONE, Roberto;
2011
Abstract
Poor awareness of one's own emotions and theory of mind appears to be a feature of many adult psychiatric conditions. In this study, we explored whether alexithymia and poor understanding of irony, both elements of the metacognitive system, were impaired in a clinical sample (n = 20) when compared to a non-clinical group (n = 35). We expected that both elements were impaired in the clinical group and explored whether they were correlated with personality disorder traits, global symptomatology, depression and anxiety. Finally, we sought to investigate whether alexithymia and difficulties in irony comprehension were related to each other. Results partially supported our hypotheses. Both emotional awareness and irony comprehension were impaired in the clinical vs. non-clinical sample. Alexithymia was related to personality disorder.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
