Alexithymia and Circumcision Trauma:
A Preliminary Investigation.
This preliminary study investigates what role early trauma might have in alexithymia acquisition for adults by controlling for male circumcision.
Three hundred self-selected men were administered the Toronto Twenty-Item Alexithymia Scale checklist and a personal history questionnaire.
The circumcised men had age-adjusted alexithymia scores 19.9 percent higher than the intact men:-
were 1.57 times more likely to have high alexithymia scores;
were 2.30 times less likely to have low alexithymia scores;
had higher prevalence of two of the three alexithymia factors (difficulty identifying feelings and difficulty describing feelings);
and were 4.53 times more likely to use an erectile dysfunction drug.
Alexithymia in this population of adult men is statistically significant for having experienced circumcision trauma and for erectile dysfunction drug use.
People suffering from the personality trait disorder alexithymia have difficulty identifying and expressing their feelings.
They daydream less, and confuse emotions with body sensations, such as physical pain.
They tend to lack imagination and intuition. This translates into not being able to imagine what others are feeling, leading to an inability to respond to others' needs.
People with severe alexithymia are so removed from their feelings that they view themselves as being robots or automatons.
If acquired at an early age, this might limit access to language and interfere with the socialization process that begins early in life.
Moderate to high alexithymia can interfere with personal relationships and hinder therapy.
[Keywords: alexithymia, neonatal, trauma, circumcision, erectile dysfunction.]
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