Talk:Alexithymia

Etymology

Is there any evidence for the alternative etymology listed on this page? The word αλέξω being part of the etymology doesn't seem to make much sense here. Skoulikomirmigotripa (talk) 00:41, 1 September 2022 (UTC)

Alexithymia in Holocaust survivors

Condition was common but is not mentioned in the article on Wikipedia. During 10 year period 1991-2001 I evaluated Holocaust survivors for German government for Wiedergutmachung as restitution for war crimes, based on the concept of Vergangengheitsbewältigung. There are references to the connection that I claim, though I do not have them with me now, other than my diagnostic use of it in a brief article about my clinical work, that I can provide. Also, I suggest that you contact some established psychiatrist for further information. I’m a retired MD neurologist, ph.d. neuroscientist, board certified in psychiatry and neurology, also with master’s degree in psychology. Bukkehave 1 October 2022

If you can supply some bibliographical references, other editors can assess whether they meet Wikipedia standards for reliable sources, and perhaps incorporate them into the article. GrindtXX (talk) 20:27, 1 October 2022 (UTC)

A quick google search turns up: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9018679/ "Alexithymia in Holocaust survivors with and without PTSD" and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2597865/ "Alexithymia, masked depression and loss in a Holocaust survivor" . Also possibly relevant is the much more recent: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/ejpt.v5.23870 "Traumatic experiences, alexithymia, and posttraumatic symptomatology: a cross-sectional population-based study in Germany" . — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.17.176.73 (talk) 01:29, 16 May 2023 (UTC)

Infobox image

A drawing by an artist with alexithymia depicting confusion about one's own emotions

I'm proposing to remove the infobox image (from Jane Austen's Emma), added by Waddie96 in this edit of 5 June, which seems to me quite wrong. In the novel, Emma is a self-confident young woman who tries to act as a matchmaker within her social circle, but has no desire to marry herself, and is in what she thinks of as a platonic friendship with Mr Knightley. At the end of the book, she realises she's in love with him - at which point he proposes to her. So she's certainly emotionally confused, but the quote about "She could really say nothing" has far more to do with her being overwhelmed by her emotions, rather than any sort of "emotional blindness". I appreciate that it's not easy to illustrate an abstract psychological state, but I think this image is downright misleading. Personally, I don't see what was wrong with the image that used to be in the infobox (right; removed by Belbury 20 Dec 2022), that was expressly created to illustrate alexithymia. Any further comments before I'm bold? GrindtXX (talk) 11:58, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

Be WP:BOLD :-) waddie96 ★ (talk) 15:39, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

No further comments, so I've switched the two images. GrindtXX (talk) 15:20, 25 June 2023 (UTC)

Must have missed the ping on this one. I described this drawing of a person in silhouette holding some worms (?) as "puzzling" when I removed it last year, and would stand by that. It seems about as useful as something like File:Noun questions 1325510.svg (a head outline with question marks), for the general idea of a human being puzzled in their brain.

Maybe less useful, for looking more like a person wondering whether to go with their head or their heart on the issue of whatever they're holding in their hand.

I'd agree with your view on the Emma illustration. Perhaps this article just can't be usefully illustrated from what Commons can offer. Belbury (talk) 18:20, 21 September 2023 (UTC)

I agree the image isn't immediately "readable" (in that it's not clear what the figure is holding); and, insofar as it is readable (it pretty obviously suggests some sort of confusion or mismatch between intellectual and emotional intelligence), it doesn't really enlighten the reader a great deal specifically on alexithymia. But in its favour is that fact that it was created by an autistic artist (User:MissLunaRose12, who appears not to have been active on Wiki since 2022) to reflect her own perception or experience of alexithymia, which has to count for something. My own view – and I know not all editors agree – is that most articles are improved by having some sort of lead image, even if it is "eye candy", and only peripherally relevant to the topic. This article is about a psychological state, which is never going to be easy to illustrate: I think this image is far from perfect, but still quite a lot better than nothing. GrindtXX (talk) 14:27, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

I'm with you on the eye candy angle, a lot of my gnoming at Wikipedia is adding even very mildly representative images to articles. My concern on this one is that the diagram may be slightly worse than nothing by strongly evoking the conscious "do I use my head or follow my heart?" decision metaphor, which is (at least as I'm reading it) the opposite of alexithymia.

Maybe a more explanatory caption would help. Belbury (talk) 15:48, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

I'm not sure a better caption would really improve things (especially in the absence of MissLunaRose12 to guide us): I feel the message of the image is just one of emotional confusion rather than anything more specific. However, I don't feel strongly on the matter, so I suggest we leave things for a few days for further input, and then if there's nothing and you want to remove the image, I'll have no objection. GrindtXX (talk) 13:14, 26 March 2024 (UTC)

I am here for a few days. The person in the image is holding a tangle toy, which is a type of fidget tool that some neurodivergent people use. MissLunaRose12 (talk) 02:12, 2 April 2024 (UTC)