Disorders of Affect Regulation
Alexithymia in Medical and Psychiatric Illness

A stimulating and practical reference offering new perspectives on the role of emotions in mental and physical health.

Graeme J. Taylor (Author), R. Michael Bagby (Author), James D. A. Parker (Author), James Grotstein (Foreword by)

9780521778503, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 7 October 1999

384 pages, 3 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.56 kg

'The authors support their ideas with hundreds of references from their own research, as well as from the work of others, providing a comprehensive synthesis of current thinking regarding alexithymia … Psychotherapists of clients with eating, personality, mood, and substance abuse disorders can gain a new understanding of the difficulties faced by those who have disturbances in affect regulation. And physicians who see patients who express their emotions somatically can learn from this new conceptualization of alexithymia as a risk factor for illness and disease.' Bulletin of the Nenninger Clinic

An entirely new perspective on how emotions influence mental and physical health. The authors present recent thinking about the development and regulation of emotions, and argue that several common but difficult to treat psychiatric illnesses, including drug addictions, eating disorders, panic disorder and post traumatic stress disorders, are a consequence of an inability to regulate distressing emotions through mental processes. The book also advances a model in which dysregulated emotions may alter other bodily systems and thereby contribute to the development of physical illnesses and diseases. Generously illustrated throughout with clinical vignettes and providing descriptions of innovative therapeutic approaches, this book offers a valuable and stimulating reference for clinicians and researchers alike.

Foreword James S. Grotstein
Acknowledgements
Introduction Graeme Taylor
1. The development and regulation of affects Graeme Taylor, Michael Bagby and James Parker
2. Affect dysregulation and alexithymia Michael Bagby and Graeme Taylor
3. Measurement and validation of the alexithymia construct Michael Bagby and Graeme Taylor
4. Relations between alexithymia, personality, and affects James Parker and Graeme Taylor
5. The neurobiology of emotion, affect regulation and alexithymia James Parker and Graeme Taylor
6. Somatoform disorders Graeme Taylor
7. Anxiety and depressive disorders and a note on personality disorders Michael Bagby and Graeme Taylor
8. Substance use disorders Graeme Taylor
9. Eating disorders Graeme Taylor
10. Affects and alexithymia in medical illness and disease Graeme Taylor
11. Treatment considerations Graeme Taylor
12. Future directions James Parker, Michael Bagby and Graeme Taylor
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Psychiatry [MMH]