Male Sexuality and Regulation of Emotions
Male Sexuality and Regulation of Emotions
Alexithymia is a multidimensional construct that describes a constellation of personality features characterised by difficulties in differentiating, identifying and communicating emotions. The purpose of the present study was to investigate prevalence of alexithymia in outpatients with erectile dysfunction (ED), both in the psychogenic lifelong type (PLED) and in the acquired one (PAED). ED severity was evaluated with the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) and alexithymia was measured using the Italian version of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). The results suggest a high incidence of alexithymic characteristics in patients with psychogenic ED, a positive correlation between the alexithymia level and ED severity in patients with PAED and statistically significant differences in the alexithymia level between the two subgroups PLED and PAED. We assumed that alexithymia contributes to the origin of the PLED, and to a more severe manifestation of ED, once it appears in the acquired form.
Alexithymia is a multidimensional construct introduced by Nemiah and Sifneos in the early 1970s to identify a group of affective and cognitive characteristics that a number of studies had observed in patients with the so-called 'classic' psychosomatic diseases.
Alexithymia construct describes a set of deficits in the cognitive processing of emotions, or more generally, a disturbance in the regulation of emotions. The personality features that characterise alexithymic individuals are: difficulty in identifying emotions and differentiating between emotions and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal; difficulty in communicating emotions to others; reduced imaginal and fantasy activity; externally oriented cognitive style.
Even if alexithymic characteristics were assumed to be typical of psychosomatic disease, there is increasing evidence that alexithymia is prevalent both in medical and in psychiatric illness. Alexithymia has been found in healthy populations as well as in a large number of clinical situations like psychoactive substance dependency, eating disorders, risky sexual behaviour. An elevated alexithymia was associated with a lower level of natural killer lymphocyte cells and worse male seminal parameters.
Previous studies found alexithymia in patients with sexual disorders and paraphilias, and a negative correlation with the frequency of vaginal intercourse in women.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of alexithymia in outpatients with erectile dysfunction (ED), both in the psychogenic lifelong type (PLED), present since the beginning of the patient's sexual activity, and in the acquired type (PAED), developed after years of satisfactory sexual activity.
We predicted a significant prevalence of alexithymic features in patients with ED, a positive correlation between alexithymia level and ED severity, and differences between alexithymia scores in patients with PLED and those with PAED.
Unlike previous researches, this study focused on psychogenic ED, evaluating a greater number of subjects and including an accurate clinical diagnosis that allowed a distinction between PLED and PAED, and between situational ED (when its appearance is limited to particular situations, stimulations or partners) and general ED (when it appears in all situations).
Abstract and Introduction
Abstract
Alexithymia is a multidimensional construct that describes a constellation of personality features characterised by difficulties in differentiating, identifying and communicating emotions. The purpose of the present study was to investigate prevalence of alexithymia in outpatients with erectile dysfunction (ED), both in the psychogenic lifelong type (PLED) and in the acquired one (PAED). ED severity was evaluated with the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) and alexithymia was measured using the Italian version of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). The results suggest a high incidence of alexithymic characteristics in patients with psychogenic ED, a positive correlation between the alexithymia level and ED severity in patients with PAED and statistically significant differences in the alexithymia level between the two subgroups PLED and PAED. We assumed that alexithymia contributes to the origin of the PLED, and to a more severe manifestation of ED, once it appears in the acquired form.
Introduction
Alexithymia is a multidimensional construct introduced by Nemiah and Sifneos in the early 1970s to identify a group of affective and cognitive characteristics that a number of studies had observed in patients with the so-called 'classic' psychosomatic diseases.
Alexithymia construct describes a set of deficits in the cognitive processing of emotions, or more generally, a disturbance in the regulation of emotions. The personality features that characterise alexithymic individuals are: difficulty in identifying emotions and differentiating between emotions and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal; difficulty in communicating emotions to others; reduced imaginal and fantasy activity; externally oriented cognitive style.
Even if alexithymic characteristics were assumed to be typical of psychosomatic disease, there is increasing evidence that alexithymia is prevalent both in medical and in psychiatric illness. Alexithymia has been found in healthy populations as well as in a large number of clinical situations like psychoactive substance dependency, eating disorders, risky sexual behaviour. An elevated alexithymia was associated with a lower level of natural killer lymphocyte cells and worse male seminal parameters.
Previous studies found alexithymia in patients with sexual disorders and paraphilias, and a negative correlation with the frequency of vaginal intercourse in women.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of alexithymia in outpatients with erectile dysfunction (ED), both in the psychogenic lifelong type (PLED), present since the beginning of the patient's sexual activity, and in the acquired type (PAED), developed after years of satisfactory sexual activity.
We predicted a significant prevalence of alexithymic features in patients with ED, a positive correlation between alexithymia level and ED severity, and differences between alexithymia scores in patients with PLED and those with PAED.
Unlike previous researches, this study focused on psychogenic ED, evaluating a greater number of subjects and including an accurate clinical diagnosis that allowed a distinction between PLED and PAED, and between situational ED (when its appearance is limited to particular situations, stimulations or partners) and general ED (when it appears in all situations).
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