nach oben

ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders

Erschienen in:

01.12.2013 | Original Article

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and alexithymia: a pilot study

verfasst von: Renato Donfrancesco, Michela Di Trani, Paola Gregori, Giovanna Auguanno, Maria Grazia Melegari, Sabrina Zaninotto, Joan Luby

Erschienen in: ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders | Ausgabe 4/2013

Einloggen, um Zugang zu erhalten

Abstract

Although the relationship between alexithymia and psychopathology has been studied extensively in adults, research is lacking on alexithymia in childhood psychopathology. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The Italian version of the Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children was administered to a sample of 50 children with a DSM-IV diagnosis of ADHD, as assessed by means of the K-SADS PL, and to 100 healthy, age- and sex-matched children without ADHD. The total alexithymia score as well as the difficulty in identifying feelings (DIF) and externally oriented thinking factors were significantly associated with ADHD. The total alexithymia score, the DIF, and the difficulty in describing feelings factors were also significantly associated with symptoms of hyperactivity/impulsivity. No significant relationship between alexithymia and inattentiveness symptoms emerged. Results provide preliminary data on the relationship between alexithymia and ADHD. Findings point to an association between difficulty in identifying emotions and hyperactivity/impulsivity. Future studies conducted on larger patient samples, as well as longitudinal designs, are warranted to confirm our findings.

Achenbach TM (1991) Manual for the child behavior checklist 4-18 and 1991 profiles. University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry, Burlington

American Psychiatric Association—APA (1994) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Washington DC

American Psychiatric Association—APA (2000) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: text revision (DSM-IV-TR). Washington DC

Bagby RM, Parker JDA, Taylor GJ (1994) The twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale-I. Item selection and cross-validation of the factor structure. J Psychosom Res 38:23–32PubMedCrossRef

Barkey RA (1997) Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: constructing a unifying theory of ADHD. Psychol Bull 121:65–94CrossRef

Beales DL, Dolton R (2000) Eating disordered patients: personality, alexithymia, and implications for primary care. Br J Gen Pract 50:21–26PubMed

Cadesky EB, Mota VL, Schachar RJ (2000) Beyond words: how do children with ADHD and/or conduct problems process nonverbal information about affect? J Am Ac Child Adol Psychiatry 39:1160–1167CrossRef

Casey RJ (1996) Emotional competence in children with externalizing and internalizing disorders. In: Lewis M, Sullivan M (eds) Emotional development in atypical children. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, pp 161–183

Corbett B, Glidden H (2000) Processing affective stimuli in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Child Neuropsych 6:144–155CrossRef

Da Fonseca D, Seguier V, Santos A, Poinso F, Deruelle C (2009) Emotion understanding in children with Adhd. Child Psych Hum Dev 40:111–121CrossRef

Di Trani M, Tomassetti N, Bonadies M, Capozzi F, De Gennaro L, Presaghi F, Solano L (2009) Un Questionario Italiano per l’Alessitimia in Età Evolutiva: struttura fattoriale e attendibilità. Psic Salute 2:131–143

Di Trani M, Presaghi F, Solano L (2010) Un Questionario per l’Alessitimia in Età Evolutiva: validazione italiana e prime applicazioni. 2° international conference new prospectives in developmental psichology. Rome, 11–12 novembre

DuPaul GJ, Power TJ, Anastopoulos AD (1998) ADHD rating scale—IV. Guilford Publications, New York

Edel MA, Rudel A, Hubert C, Scheele D, Brüne M, Juckel G, Assion HJ (2010) Alexithymia, emotion processing and social anxiety in adults with ADHD. Eur J Med Res 24:403–409

Fukunishi I, Tsuruta T, Hirabayashi N, Asukai N (2001) Association of alexithymic characteristics and posttraumatic stress response following medical treatment for children with refractory hematological diseases. Psychol Rep 89:527–534PubMed

Honkalampi K, Tolmunenc T, Hintikkad J, Rissanena ML, Kylmäe J, Laukkanenc E (2009) The prevalence of alexithymia and its relationship with youth self-report problem scales among Finnish adolescents. Compreh Psychiatry 50:263–268CrossRef

Jessimer M, Markham R (1997) Alexithymia: a right hemisphere dysfunction specific to recognition of certain facial expression? Brain Cogn 34:246–258PubMedCrossRef

Karukivi M, Hautala L, Kaleva O, Haapasalo-Pesu KM, Liuksila PR, Joukamaa M, Saarijärvi S (2010a) Alexithymia is associated with anxiety among adolescents. J Affect Dis 125:383–387PubMedCrossRef

Karukivi M, Hautala L, Korpelainen J, Haapasalo-Pesu KM, Liuksila PR, Joukama M, Saarijarvi S (2010b) Alexithymia and eating disorder symptoms in adolescents. Eating Dis J Treat Prev 18:226–238CrossRef

Kaufman J, Birmaher B, Brent D, Rao U (1997) Schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia for school-age children-present lifetime version (K-SADS-PL): initial reliability and validity data. J Am Ac Child Adolesc Psychiatry 36:980–988CrossRef

Krystal H (1979) Alexithymia and psychotherapy. Am J Psychoth 33:17–31

Lane RD, Sechrest L, Reidel R (2000) Pervasive emotion recognition deficit common to alexithymia and the repressive coping style. Psychosom Med 62:492–501PubMed

Madioni F, Mammana LA (2001) Toronto Alexithymia Scale in outpatients with sexual disorders. Psychopath 34:95–98CrossRef

Mann LS, Wise TN, Trinidad A, Kohanski R (1994) Alexithymia, affect recognition, and the five-structure model of personality in normal subjects. Psychol Rep 74:563–567PubMedCrossRef

Manninen M, Therman S, Suvisaari J, Ebeling H, Moilanen I, Huttunen M, Joukamaa M (2011) Alexithymia is common among adolescents with severe disruptive behavior. J Nervous Mental Dis 199:506–509CrossRef

Markovska-Simoska S (2010) Face emotive recognition by ADHD and normal adults. Acta Neuropsychol 8:99–122

Marzocchi GM, Cornoldi C (2000) Una scala di facile uso per la rilevazione dei comportamenti problematici dei bambini con deficit di attenzione e iperattività. Psic Clin Sviluppo 4:43–64

Nemiah JC, Freyberger H, Sifneos PE (1976) Alexithymia: a view of the psychosomatic process. In modern trends in psychosomatic medicine, vol. 3. O. Hill (ed). London, Butterworths, pp 430–439

Parker JDA, Taylor GJ, Bagby RM (1993) Alexithymia and recognition of facial expression of emotion. Psychother Psychosom 59:197–202PubMedCrossRef

Rapport LJ, Friedman SR, Tzelepis A, Van Voorhis A (2002) Experienced emotions and affect recognition in adult attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Neuropsych 16:102–110CrossRef

Rieffe C, Terwogt M, Bosch JD (2004) Emotion understanding in children with frequent somatic complaints. Eur J Devel Psychol 1:31–47CrossRef

Rieffe C, Oosterveld P, Terwogt M (2006) An alexithymia questionnaire for children: factorial and concurrent validation results. Pers Ind Diff 40:123–133CrossRef

Rieffe C, Oosterveld P, Terwogt M, Novin S, Nasiri H, Latifian M (2010) Relationship between alexithymia, mood and internalizing symptoms in children and young adolescents: evidence from an Iranian sample. Pers Ind Diff 48:425–430CrossRef

Shapiro EG, Hughes SJ, August GJ, Bloomquist ML (1993) Processing of emotional information in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Dev Neuropsych 9:225–240CrossRef

Sifneos PE (1973) The prevalence of ‘alexithymic’ characteristics in psychosomatic patients. Psychother Psychosom 22:255–262PubMedCrossRef

Singh SD (1998) Recognition of facial expressions of emotion by children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Behav Modif 22:128–142PubMedCrossRef

Sinzig J, Morsch D, Lehmkuhl G (2008) Do hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention have an impact on the ability of facial affect recognition in children with autism and ADHD? Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 17:63–72PubMedCrossRef

Sonnby-Borgstro M (2009) Alexithymia as related to facial imitation, metallization, empathy, and internal working models-of-self and -others. Neuropsychoan 11:111–128

Taylor GJ, Bagby RM (2013) Psychoanalysis and empirical research: the example of alexithymia. J Am Psychoan Ass 61:99–133CrossRef

Taylor GJ, Bagby RM, Parker JDA (1997) Disorders of affect regulation: alexithymia in medical and psychiatric illness. Cambridge University Press, CambridgeCrossRef

van de Putte EM, Engelbert RHH, Kuis W, Kimpen JLL, Uiterwaal CSPM (2007) Alexithymia in adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome. J Psychosom Res 63:377–380PubMedCrossRef

Yuill N, Lyon J (2007) Selective difficulty in recognising facial expressions of emotions in boys with ADHD: general performance impairments or specific problems in social cognition? Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 16:398–404PubMedCrossRef

Zimmermann G (2006) Delinquency in male adolescents: the role of alexithymia and family structure. J Adolesc 29:321–332PubMedCrossRef

Zonnevylle-Bender MJS, van Goozen SHM, Cohen-Kettenis PT, van Elburg A, van Engeland H (2004) Emotional functioning in adolescent anorexia nervosa patients: a controlled study. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 13:28–34PubMedCrossRef

Titel: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and alexithymia: a pilot study
verfasst von: Renato Donfrancesco
Michela Di Trani
Paola Gregori
Giovanna Auguanno
Maria Grazia Melegari
Sabrina Zaninotto
Joan Luby
Publikationsdatum: 01.12.2013
Verlag: Springer Vienna
Erschienen in: ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders / Ausgabe 4/2013
Print ISSN: 1866-6116
Elektronische ISSN: 1866-6647
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12402-013-0115-9

Leitlinien kompakt für die Neurologie

Mit medbee Pocketcards sicher entscheiden.

^{Seit 2022 gehört die medbee GmbH zum Springer Medizin Verlag}

Kostenlos registrieren

Neu im Fachgebiet Neurologie

Niedriger diastolischer Blutdruck erhöht Risiko für schwere kardiovaskuläre Komplikationen

25.04.2024 Hypotonie Nachrichten

Wenn unter einer medikamentösen Hochdrucktherapie der diastolische Blutdruck in den Keller geht, steigt das Risiko für schwere kardiovaskuläre Ereignisse: Darauf deutet eine Sekundäranalyse der SPRINT-Studie hin.

Frühe Alzheimertherapie lohnt sich

25.04.2024 AAN-Jahrestagung 2024 Nachrichten

Ist die Tau-Last noch gering, scheint der Vorteil von Lecanemab besonders groß zu sein. Und beginnen Erkrankte verzögert mit der Behandlung, erreichen sie nicht mehr die kognitive Leistung wie bei einem früheren Start. Darauf deuten neue Analysen der Phase-3-Studie Clarity AD.

Viel Bewegung in der Parkinsonforschung

25.04.2024 Parkinson-Krankheit Nachrichten

Neue arznei- und zellbasierte Ansätze, Frühdiagnose mit Bewegungssensoren, Rückenmarkstimulation gegen Gehblockaden – in der Parkinsonforschung tut sich einiges. Auf dem Deutschen Parkinsonkongress ging es auch viel um technische Innovationen.

Demenzkranke durch Antipsychotika vielfach gefährdet

23.04.2024 Demenz Nachrichten

Wenn Demenzkranke aufgrund von Symptomen wie Agitation oder Aggressivität mit Antipsychotika behandelt werden, sind damit offenbar noch mehr Risiken verbunden als bislang angenommen.

Update Neurologie

Bestellen Sie unseren Fach-Newsletter und bleiben Sie gut informiert.

Newsletter bestellen

Springer Medizin

Abstract

Bitte loggen Sie sich ein, um Zugang zu diesem Inhalt zu erhalten

Weitere Artikel der Ausgabe 4/2013

A non-interventional study of extended-release methylphenidate in the routine treatment of adolescents with ADHD: effectiveness, safety and adherence to treatment

Flanker performance in female college students with ADHD: a diffusion model analysis

Comorbidity and continuity of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) from childhood to adolescence in Turkey

Verbal fluency in adults diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in childhood

Adults with ADHD: use and misuse of stimulant medication as reported by patients and their primary care physicians

Atomoxetine response in the inattentive and combined subtypes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a retrospective chart review