Alexithymia: Treatment Interventions

Abstract

Alexithymia means "no words for emotions" and the psychotherapy process is known to be negatively influenced, as the level of alexithymia increases. Therefore, alexithymia score is considered as an essential tool helping clinicians treat the patients. In this literature review, ongoing discussions on the alexithymia treatment will be studied by focusing on the long-term effects of the alexithymic characteristics on the treatment results and the prominenet psychotherapy approaches in the alexithymia treatment. In the light of the related studies' results, the treatment of alexithymia will be examined in terms of its progress in time from pharmacotherapy to psychotherapy; problems of attachment and progress in psychotherapy; psychotherapeutic techniques, which help clinicians overcome the obstacles in the treatment process. At this point, the focus will be on group therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy, as they are considered as the prominent therapies in comparison with the other therapy approaches in the treatment of alexithymia.

Keywords

• Alexithymia, Treatment, Psychotherapy, Group Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Aleksitimi: Tedavi Girişimleri

Öz

Aleksitimi "duygular için söz yokluğu" anlamına gelmekte ve kişideki aleksitimi düzeyi arttıkça, psikoterapi sürecinin de olumsuz etkilendiği bilinmektedir. Dolayısıyla aleksitimi skorlarından da hastaların klinik tedavisinde uzmanlara yol gösterecek önemli bir araç olarak yararlanılabileceği düşünülmektedir. Bu kuramsal derleme çalışmasında, aleksitimi tedavisinin günümüzde ne noktada olduğu sorusuna yanıt aranmaktadır. Bu soruyu yanıtlamak için aleksitimik özelliklerin uzun vadede terapi sonucu üzerindeki etkileri ve aleksitimi tedavisinde öne çıkan psikoterapi yaklaşımlarına odaklanılmaktadır. Bu bağlamda, ilgili araştırmaların sonuçları ışığında, aleksitimi tedavisinin farmakoterapiden psikoterapiye gelişimi; aleksitimik bireylerin psikoterapide bağlanma ve ilerleme sorunu; tedavilerindeki engelleri aşmak için yararlanılabilecek psikoterapötik yöntemler ve aleksitimi tedavisinde diğer yaklaşımlara kıyasla öne çıkan grup terapisi ve bilişsel davranışçı terapi alt başlıkları ele alınmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Aleksitimi, Tedavi, Psikoterapi, Grup Terapisi, Bilişsel Davranışçı Terapi

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43. Miray Şaşıoğlu, Uzm. Klinik Psikolog, Psikonet Psikoterapi ve Eğitim Merkezi, İstanbul; Çağla Gülol, Dr. Klinik Psikolog, Elan Vital Danışmanlık, İstanbul, İstanbul; Ahmet Tosun, Yrd. Doç. Dr.,Okan Üniversitesi, İstanbul Yazışma Adresi/Correspondence: Miray Şaşıoğlu, Psikonet Psikoterapi ve Eğitim Merkezi, İstanbul, Turkey. E-mail: [e-mail] Yazar bu makale ile ilgili herhangi bir çıkar çatışması bildirmemiştir. The author reported no conflict of interest related to this article. Çevrimiçi adresi / Available online at: www.cappsy.org/archives/vol6/no1/ Çevrimiçi yayım / Published online 15 Mayıs/May 15, 2013; doi: 10.5455/cap.20130515054141