Distinguishing alexithymia and emotion differentiation conceptualizations through linguistic analysis

Abstract Alexithymia is often characterized as a chronic deficit in processing and communicating emotional information. However, there is a lack of empirical consensus regarding the relationship between alexithymia and other emotion difficulties. The current study aimed to further clarify differences between alexithymia and a similarly conceptualized construct, emotion differentiation. Participants completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 to assess alexithymia and a written autobiographical recall task to assess emotion differentiation. Linguistic analysis was then used to examine linguistic patterns associated with alexithymia versus emotion differentiation. Results suggested alexithymia was associated with a negative bias in emotional experience and hyper-focus on the self, whereas emotion differentiation difficulties were associated with stronger correspondence between emotional experience and situational context. Results provide further evidence to support alexithymia and emotion differentiation as separate constructs with distinct emotional experiences.