Alexithymia and Interoceptive Confusion in Covid-19 Pandemic Distress

Mario Miniati; Chiara Poidomani; Ciro Conversano; Graziella Orrù; Rebecca Ciacchini; Donatella Marazziti; Giulio Perugi; Angelo Gemignani; Laura Palagini

doi:10.36131/cnfioritieditore20230405

Alexithymia and Interoceptive Confusion in Covid-19 Pandemic Distress

Clin Neuropsychiatry. 2023 Aug;20(4):264-270. doi: 10.36131/cnfioritieditore20230405.

Authors

Mario Miniati¹, Chiara Poidomani¹, Ciro Conversano¹, Graziella Orrù¹, Rebecca Ciacchini¹, Donatella Marazziti¹, Giulio Perugi¹, Angelo Gemignani¹, Laura Palagini¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy, and the Department of Surgical Medical and Molecular Pathology, Critical Care and Care Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy.

Abstract

Objective: Alexithymic traits are associated with the difficulty of perceiving 'non-affective interoceptive signals', and are related to a problematic management of stressful life events (SLEs). The main purpose of this study was to quantify the psychological response of the general population to COVID-19 pandemic stress and to evaluate potential correlations with the presence of 'alexithymic traits' and 'interoceptive confusion' (study protocol # 0077794/2022).

Method: 175 subjects from general population were assessed with the Toronto-Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Event-Revised Impact Scale (IES-R), the Interoceptive Accuracy Scale (IAS), and the Interoceptive Confusion Questionnaire (ICQ).

Results: a significant relationship emerged between alexithymic traits (assessed with the TAS-20), the ICQ 'interoceptive confusion', and the domain of 'hyper-arousal' as assessed with IES-R. Logistic regression model showed that ICQ-Total Score and IES-R 'hyper-arousal' domain were significantly correlated with TAS-20 total score, with DR value (R2 corrected) explaining the 36.8% of the variability (standard error: 10.7).

Conclusions: This study, albeit with the limitations of a cross-sectional experimental design with self-evaluation tools in a general population sample, showed a vulnerability to COVID-19 pandemic stress due to high levels of hyper-arousal in subjects with alexithymic traits and interoceptive confusion.

Keywords: COVID-19; alexithymia; interoceptive confusion; pandemic; stress.