A new longitudinal study published in Affective Science shows that adolescents who struggle to identify and describe their emotions, a trait known as alexithymia, are more likely to experience growing emotion regulation difficulties over time, leading to increased psychological distress.
The study, led by Jack Brett of the University of Western Australia and colleagues, aimed to explore how alexithymia influences emotional development and psychological distress in adolescents. Using a sample of Iranian teenagers, the study employed a longitudinal design with assessments spaced seven months apart, measuring alexithymia, emotion regulation, and psychological distress to track changes over time, and found that difficulty processing emotions is not just correlated with mental health symptoms, but it may drive them.
“The present study investigated whether adolescents’ baseline levels of alexithymia predicted future changes in psychological distress and whether this link could be explained by increasing emotion regulation difficulties. Overall, in line with our expectations, we found that alexithymia not only related to emotion regulation difficulties and psychological distress but significantly predicted increased difficulties in regulating both positive and negative emotions. This provides evidence that alexithymia may precede increases in emotion regulation difficulties. Furthermore, the mediation analysis indicated that baseline alexithymia indirectly increased psychological distress via these increased difficulties in emotion regulation.”
The ability to identify and express feelings is shaped by language, relationships, and social norms. From this view, emotions are learned and practiced, not just experienced. That adolescents who struggle to name their feelings are more likely to face worsening distress underscores the risks of treating emotion as purely individual, rather than as something shaped by the stories and structures around us. The study’s findings take on added significance in a cultural context where emotional suffering is often pathologized, while the conditions that shape emotional awareness are often overlooked.
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This is something one needs to learn during early childhood from their parents or caregivers through a process called ‘co-regulation.’ In this process, the caregiver helps regulate the child’s emotions by giving them space to express their feelings, putting those feelings into words, and explaining the situation. The only challenge is that caregivers themselves must have experienced this kind of support from their own caregivers. Unfortunately, emotions are often viewed as a sign of weakness in society and are frequently dismissed. That’s why many people don’t develop a secure attachment style—one in which emotions are acknowledged and regulated, either independently or with the help of others.
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“Alexithymia?” Seriously? Talk about making things sound more complex so you’ll sound more erudite! I have a great idea – let’s call it “inability to recognize and describe emotions!” Just a thought…
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