Alexithymia_an analytical study

Alexithymia is a psychological trait characterized by the inability to identify and verbally describe emotions and feelings in oneself as well as in others. The study was mainly conducted to understand the association between alexithymia and the variables viz., family environment; physical factors, psychological factors, spirituality, level of independence, general health (the components of quality of life); self- image, selfconfidence, self-satisfaction, self-respect, and self-reliance. To find out the socio-cultural factors influencing alexithymia was also an objective. The sample of the present study was 592 people selected randomly from the general population of Kerala state. The age of the participants ranged from 25-55. The sample consisted of equal number of males and females, belonging to Christian, Hindu, and Muslim religions. The tools used for procuring data were: Alexithymia Scale, Family environment Scale, Quality of life Scale and A Self Profile. Data were analyzed using Carl Pearson Product Moment Correlation, t-test, one way MANOVA, one way ANOVA and Post Hoc Duncan Procedure. The results show that there exist significant negative correlation between alexithymia and all other variables under study. Again, alexithymia is found to vary significantly across the nature of residents, age categories, locale, number of family environment, marital status, socio economic status, birth order, but no such difference was found with gender and religion. The results of the present study have implications in the treatment of alexithymia and may be a guide to future research in this area.