title: Neuroanatomical profiles of alexithymia dimensions and subtypes.
abstract: Alexithymia, a major risk factor for a range of psychiatric and neurological disorders, has been recognized to comprise two dimensions, a cognitive dimension (difficulties identifying, analyzing, and verbalizing feelings) and an affective one (difficulties emotionalizing and fantasizing). Based on these dimensions, the existence of four distinct alexithymia subtypes has been proposed, but never empirically tested. In this study, 125 participants were assigned to four groups corresponding to the proposed alexithymia subtypes: Type I (impairment on both dimensions), Type II (impairment on the cognitive, but not the affective dimension), Type III (impairment on the affective, but not the cognitive dimension), and Lexithymics (no impairment on either dimension). By means of voxel-based morphometry, associations of the alexithymia dimensions and subtypes with gray and white matter volumes were analyzed. Type I and Type II alexithymia were characterized by gray matter volume reductions in the left amygdala and the thalamus. The cognitive dimension was further linked to volume reductions in the right amygdala, left posterior insula, precuneus, caudate, hippocampus, and parahippocampus. Type III alexithymia was marked by volume reduction in the MCC only, and the affective dimension was further characterized by larger sgACC volume. Moreover, individuals with the intermediate alexithymia Types II and III showed gray matter volume reductions in distinct regions, and had larger corpus callosum volumes compared to Lexithymics. These results substantiate the notion of a differential impact of the cognitive and affective alexithymia dimensions on brain morphology and provide evidence for separable neuroanatomical representations of the different alexithymia subtypes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, 52074, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Katharina Sophia
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Goerlich-Dobre
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, 52074, Aachen, Germany.|Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Mikhail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Votinov
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, 52074, Aachen, Germany.|JARA - Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen & Jülich, NorthRhine-Westfalia, Germany.
authors.forename: Ute
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Habel
authors.affiliation: Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Juergen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pripfl
authors.affiliation: Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Claus
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lamm
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D003071:Cognition; D003337:Corpus Callosum / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: affective; cognitive; corpus callosum; dimensions; voxel-based morphometry