Abstract

DIAZ-CASTILLO, Ricardo  and  AIZPURU DE LA PORTILLA, Araceli. Relationship between alexithymia and body dissatisfaction in Mexican women with different eating disorders. Rev. Mex. de trastor. aliment [online]. 2016, vol.7, n.1, pp.71-77. ISSN 2007-1523.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmta.2016.04.002.

The literature has shown the relationship between alexithymia and body dissatisfaction with eating disorders, however, little is known about the relationship between these variables, particularly in women with eating disorders. Therefore, the overall objective of this study was to determine the percentage of variance explained by alexithymia body dissatisfaction in 175 women diagnosed with eating disorder with a mean age of 19.82 years, of which 57 were diagnosed with anorexia, 55 with bulimia and 63 eating disorder not specified. Participants completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and Body Image Questionnaire. The results show that 7 out of 10 and 6 out of 10 participants had alexithymia and body dissatisfaction, respectively. In addition, it was found that the variables are associated significantly. Finally, it was found that alexithymia explains 39% of the variance in body dissatisfaction, increasing the percentage (45%) to particularly consider the difficulty in identifying emotions. Therefore, it is concluded that alexithymia significantly influences on body dissatisfaction, and thus may act as a risk factor for development in diseases such as anorexia and bulimia.

Keywords : Alexithymia; Body dissatisfaction; Eating disorders; Anorexia; Bulimia.

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