What is externally oriented cognitive?

An externally oriented thinking style is ‘a cognitive style characterised by. a preoccupation with the minute details of external events, rather than by. JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES 9(3)

What is externally oriented thinking in alexithymia?

Difficulty Identifying Feelings measures the extent to which people report difficulty in identifying their own inner emotional states; Difficulty Describing Feelings measures the extent to which people report difficulty in describing feelings to others; and Externally Oriented Thinking measures the extent to which …

What does alexithymia feel like?

People who do have alexithymia may describe themselves as having difficulties with expressing emotions that are deemed socially appropriate, such as happiness on a joyous occasion. Others may furthermore have trouble identifying their emotions. Such individuals don’t necessarily have apathy.

How do I know if I have alexithymia?

Signs and symptoms of alexithymia include: difficulties identifying feelings and emotions. problems distinguishing between emotions and bodily sensations that relate to those emotions. limited ability to communicate feelings to others.

Is alexithymia a learning disability?

Alexithymia has been closely associated with a variety of mental health and somatic problems. However, the construct of alexithymia has not been considered in respect to people with learning disabilities.

What is narcissistic alexithymia?

Concept description. In his New York Times column of 11 October 2016, David Brooks wrote that “Trump continues to display the symptoms of narcissistic alexithymia, the inability to understand or describe the emotions in the self. Unable to know themselves, sufferers are unable to understand, relate or attach to others. …

Is alexithymia a personality disorder?

Alexithymia is a personality trait characterized by the subclinical inability to identify and describe emotions experienced by one’s self. The core characteristic of alexithymia is marked dysfunction in emotional awareness, social attachment, and interpersonal relation.

Can a narcissist have alexithymia?

Narcissistic personality disorder is characterized by grandiosity, self-admiration needs, and empathy deficits (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). An emerging body of work suggests that narcissism is particularly associated with an alexithymia subtype (i.e., difficulties identifying feelings).

Why is externally oriented thinking important in alexithymia?

The ‘externally oriented thinking’ dimension of alexithymia was found to be an important factor, which affected physiological and behavioral reactivity and decoupled it from subjective-experiential reactivity to complex sad stimuli with different, avoidance or attachment, contexts.

What kind of personality trait is alexithymia?

Objective: Alexithymia has been considered a personality trait characterized by difficulties identifying and describing feelings and an externally oriented thinking style. A high rate of alexithymia is reported among patients with psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders.

How is alexithymia related to lack of emotion processing?

If alexithymia in general is related to a lack in emotion processing, each particular dimension of the alexithymia construct is associated with the lack in a particular central mechanism or level of the emotion processing.

What are the dimensions of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale?

The 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) purportedly measures 3 intercorrelated dimensions of the alexithymia construct: (a) difficulties identifying feelings (DIF), (b) difficulties describing feelings (DDF), and (c) externally oriented thinking (EOT).