alexithymia

alexithymia

English

Etymology

From a- +‎ lexi +‎ -thymia.

Created by psychiatrists John Case Nemiah and Peter Sifneos from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “not”) + λέξις (léxis, “speaking”) + θυμός (thumós, “heart”), meaning “without words for emotions”.[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌeɪ.lɛk.səˈθaɪ.mi.ə/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

Noun

alexithymia (uncountable)

1. A deficiency in understanding, processing, or describing emotions.
   • 2008, Amy Kroska and Sarah K. Harkness, “Exploring the Role of Diagnosis in the Modified Labeling Theory of Mental Illness” in Social Psychology Quarterly LXXI, № 2 (Wrestling with Social Psychology, June 2008), page 195:

     Finally, schizophrenic disorders involve impairments of perceptions, including hallucinations and delusions, symptoms that often impair patients’ social and occupational functioning and can create alexithymia (Maggini and Raballo 2004; van ‛t Wout et al. 2007), an inability to recognize one’s own feelings.

Translations

deficiency in understanding emotions

Chinese: 述情障礙 Emilian: alesitimìa Finnish: aleksitymia (fi) French: alexithymie (fr) German: Alexithymie (de) f Greek: αλεξιθυμία (el) f (alexithymía) Italian: alessitimia (it) f Japanese: アレキシサイミア Polish: aleksytymia (pl) f Portuguese: alexitimia f Russian: алекситими́я (ru) f (aleksitimíja) Spanish: alexitimia (es) f

References

1. Stichwort Alexi|thymie. In: Duden. Das Wörterbuch medizinischer Fachausdrücke. Software für PC-Bibliothek. Bibliographisches Institut, Mannheim