The Journal of nervous and mental disease
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J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. · Jun 1988
Alexithymia and somatization. A Rorschach study of four psychosomatic groups.
The construct of alexithymia has been postulated as a predisposing factor in psychosomatic illness. The alexithymia construct has achieved wide currency in psychosomatic research and theorizing despite its doubtful psychometric foundations. Also, the question of between-group variability in alexithymia has not been addressed. ⋯ Additionally, exploratory comparisons between psychosomatic groups revealed a number of differences between the groups in basic personality processes. The findings show promise for the use of the Rorschach test as an alexithymia measure. Based on the current study, heterogeneous grouping of psychosomatic patients in research designs and treatment programs appear to be a highly questionable procedure.