Abstract
Objective
To compare sex differences in alexithymia (poor emotional processing) in males and
females with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and uninjured controls.
Design
Cross-sectional study.
Setting
TBI rehabilitation facility in the United States and a university in Canada.
Participants
Sixty adults with moderate to severe TBI (62% men) and 60 uninjured controls (63%
men) (N=120).
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20).
Results
Uninjured men had significantly higher (worse) alexithymia scores than uninjured female
participants on the TAS-20 (P=.007), whereas, no sex differences were found in the TBI group (P=.698). Men and women with TBI had significantly higher alexithymia compared with uninjured
same-sex controls (both P<.001). The prevalence of participants with scores exceeding alexithymia sex-based
norms for men and women with TBI was 37.8% and 47.8%, respectively, compared with
7.9% and 0% for men and women without TBI.
Conclusions
Contrary to most findings in the general population, men with TBI were not more alexithymic
than their female counterparts with TBI. Both men and women with TBI have more severe
alexithymia than their uninjured same-sex peers. Moreover, both are equally at risk
for elevated alexithymia compared with the norms. Alexithymia should be evaluated
and treated after TBI regardless of patient sex.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
DDF (difficulty describing feelings), DIF (difficulty identifying feelings), EOT (externally oriented thinking), ES (effect size), TAS-20 (Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20), TBI (traumatic brain injury)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 19, 2020
Footnotes
Current affiliation for Neumann, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Indiana University School of Medicine, Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana, Indianapolis, IN.
Current affiliation for Zupan, Department of Exercise and Health Sciences, School of Health, Medical, and Applied Sciences, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, QLD, Australia.
Supported by Cannon Research Center at Carolinas Rehabilitation in Charlotte, NC, and the Humanities Research Institute at Brock University.
Disclosures: D.N. was one of the cocreators of a publicly available electronic application that was designed to aid in treating certain aspects of alexithymia. D.N. does not receive any direct royalties from this application. The other author has nothing to disclose.
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
