Alexithymia and script-driven emotional imagery in healthy female subjects: no support for deficiencies in imagination

Bausch, S., Stingl, M., Hartmann, L. C., Leibing, E., Leichsenring, F., Kruse, J., Stark, R. & Leweke, F. (2011). Alexithymia and script-driven emotional imagery in healthy female subjects: no support for deficiencies in imagination. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 179-184. Alexithymia is associated with a limited access to inner emotional processes. Furthermore, alexithymia is assumed to be characterized by a limited ability to use imagination. To evaluate the frequently proposed thesis of a reduced imagination ability in alexithymic persons, 25 high and 24 low alexithymic women self-rated their imagination ability. Furthermore, the electrodermal activity (EDA) during script-driven emotional imagination was determined and valence, arousal, and vividness of the respective imaginations were rated. Our results indicate no significant differences between high and low alexithymic women in the self-rated imagination ability, the EDA during imagination and the ratings of valence, arousal and vividness. The study provides evidence that healthy high alexithymic women are capable of differentiated emotional imagination.