Inability or difficulty in describing or being aware of one's emotions or moods; associated with depression, substance abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder
A disruption in both affective and cognitive processes It is not treated as a 'true' psychiatric syndrome but rather as a general charactersation of a number of traits which are often seen together in a variety of disorders including those with psychosomatic origins and some addictions and drug-dependency disorders Typically the alexithymic person has relatively undifferentiated emotions and thinking tends to dwell excessively on the mundane