Alexithymia and eating disorder symptoms: the mediating role of emotion regulation

Abstract

Objective Preliminary research has found evidence to suggest alexithymia acts as a risk factor for the development of psychopathology symptoms, due to its impairing role on emotion regulation ability. Eating disorder symptoms have been extensively linked to high levels of alexithymia and emotion regulation difficulties, yet little is known about the precise mechanisms behind these interactions. The current study investigates whether emotion regulation difficulties drive the association between alexithymia and eating disorder symptoms.